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THE  HOLY  LAND 
-  AND  SYRIA  - 

FRANK^  G- CARPENTER 


LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 


PRESENTED  BY 

MRS.  WILLIAM  GLASSFORD 


V 


CARPENTER'S 
WORLD  TRAVELS 


Familiar  Talks  About  Countries 
and  Peoples 


WITH    THE     AUTHOR    ON     THE     SPOT    AND 
THE     READER    IN     HIS    HOME,     BASED 
ON     THREE     HUNDRED     THOU- 
SAND   MILES    OF    TRAVEL 
OVER    THE    GLOBE 


THE    HOLY   LAND 
AND    SYRIA 


CHRISTIANS  RULE  THE  LAND  OF  CHRIST 
Seven  hundred  years  of  Moslem  supremacy  in  the  Holy  Land  ended 
with  General  Allenby's  modest  entrance  into  Jerusalem.     Then  arose  the 
cry,  "The  day  of  deliverance  is  come" 


CARPENTER'S  WORLD  TRAVELS 

THE  HOLY  LAND 

AND  SYRIA 

BY 
FRANK  G.  CARPENTER 

LITT.D.,  F.R.G.S. 


NINETY-SIX  PAGES  OF 
ILLUSTRATIONS  FROM 
ORIGINAL  PHOTOGRAPHS 
AND   TWO   MAPS    IN    COLOUR 


GARDEN    CITY  NEW    YORK 

DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY 
1922 


COPYRIGHT,    1922,  BY 

FRANK  G.  CARPENTER 

ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED,   INCLUDING  THAT  OF  TRANSLATION 

INTO  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES,  INCLUDING  THE  SCANDINAVIAN 

PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

AT 

THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  PRESS,  GARDEN  CITY-   N.  Y 

First  Edition 


LIBRARY 

€MVEF?RTTY  OF  CALIF0RNI4 

SANTA  BARBARA 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

rj  THE  publication  of  this  volume  on  the  Holy  Land 
and  Syria,  I  wish  to  thank  the  Secretary  of  State  for 
letters  which  have  given  me  the  assistance  of  our 
official  representatives  in  the  countries  visited.  I  also 
thank  our  Secretary  of  Agriculture  and  our  Secretary  of 
Labour  for  appointing  me  an  Honorary  Commissioner  of 
their  Departments  in  foreign  lands.  Their  credentials 
have  been  of  the  greatest  value,  making  accessible  to 
me  sources  of  information  seldom  opened  to  the  ordi- 
nary traveller. 

I  wish  to  acknowledge  also  the  valuable  assistance 
and  cooperation  rendered  by  Mr.  Dudley  Harmon,  my 
editor,  and  Miss  Josephine  Lehmann  in  the  revision  of 
the  notes  dictated  or  penned  by  me  on  the  ground. 

While  most  of  the  illustrations  are  from  my  own  neg- 
atives, there  are  certain  photographs  which  have  been 
supplied  by  the  Near  East  Relief,  the  Red  Cross,  the 
Publishers'  Photo  Service,  and  the  Zionist  Organization 
of  America,  all  of  which  are  protected  by  copyright. 


VII 


CONTENTS 


I  Just  a  Word  Before  We  Start  . 

II  In  the  Land  of  Goshen 

III  The  City  of  Jonah 

IV  By  Railway  to  the  Land  of  Judea 
V  From  Dan  to  Beersheba    . 

VI  Jerusalem  in  the  Twentieth  Century 

VII  Around  the  Walls  of  the  Holy  City 

VIII  "The  Tribes  of  God  Go  Thither" 

IX  On  the  Site  of  Solomon's  Temple    . 

X  Jews  of  Palestine 

XI  The  Evil  Eye 

XII  Easter  in  Jerusalem 

XIII  Washing  the  Feet  of  the  Apostles 

XIV  A  Talk  with  the   Greek  Patriarch 
XV  Among  the  Money  Changers  . 

XVI  Excavating  Old  Jericho     . 

XVII  The  Dead  Sea  and  the  Jordan 

XVIII  Bethlehem 

XIX  Among  the  Samaritans  . 

ix 


PAGE 
I 

4 
14 
23 
30 

36 

43 
48 

57 
.68 

78 
84 
95 

lOI 

1 1 1 
1 19 
129 
138 
149 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XX     Farming   in   the   Land  of   Milk  and 

Honey 159 

XXI     The    Colonies    and   Their    Develop- 
ment     169 

XXII     Where  Our  Saviour  Spent  His  Boy- 
hood      177 

XXIII  On  the  Sea  of  Galilee       ....  187 

XXIV  The  Zionist  Movement       ....  196 

XXV    The  World's  Oldest  City  ....  204 

XXVI     Shopping     in     the     Street     Called 

Straight 214 

XXVII     The  Veiled  Women  of  Damascus      .  223 

XXVIII     Baalbek  the  Wonderful    ....  232 

XXIX     Across  the    Lebanon    Mountains   by 

Rail 242 

XXX     American  Leaven  in  the  Near    East  252 

XXXI     At    the    Shrine    of    Diana    of    the 

Ephesians 262 

XXXII     Armenia,  the  Suffering       ....  271 

XXXIII     Palestine    and    Syria     Under    New 

Rulers 280 

Seeing  the  World 287 

Bibliography 289 

Index 293 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Christians  rule  the  Land  of  Christ  Frontispiece 


FACING  PACE 


Primitive  water  wheel  in  the  Land  of  Goshen        .      ,  8 

Throughrocky  wastes  to  the  top  of  Mt.  Sinai       .      .  9 

Egyptians  toiling  where  the  Israelites  made  bricks  .  16 

We  go  ashore  in  small  boats  at  Jaffa        ....  17 

House  of  Simon  the  Tanner 17 

The  men  of  Palestine  are  very  strong       ....  20 

Cactus  hedges  are  used  instead  of  fences       ...  21 

The  crude  plough  of  Palestine 28 

The  children  of  the  Holy  Land 28 

A  sheeted  Balaam  and  his  ass 29 

Fuel  is  scarce  in  the  land  of  no  woods      ....  32 

The  Pool  of  Hezekiah 33 

Airplane  view  of  Jerusalem 36 

The  Kaiser's  breach  in  the  Wall  of  Jerusalem     .      .  37 

The  roofs  of  Jerusalem        44 

View  of  the  Mt.  of  Olives 44 

Jerusalem  seen  from  a  bell  tower 45 

Sheep  and  goats  outside  the  walls 48 

Lepers  beg  at  the  Gates  of  Jerusalem       ....  49 

The  roads  to  Jaffa  and  Bethlehem 49 

Water  carriers  old  and  new 52 

"Going  up  to  Jerusalem" 53 

A  donkey  ambulance  for  pilgrims  on  the  march       .  53 

Pilgrims  bathing  in  the  River  Jordan       ....  60 

Russian  women  walk  from  shrine  to  shrine   ...  61 

xi 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING  PAGE 

The  Mosque  of  Omar 64 

The  Jews'  wailing  place 65 

A  maid  of  Jerusalem 68 

Snow  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem 69 

Three  learned  Jews  of  the  Holy  City        ....  76 

The  Tower  of  David 77 

Inside  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre       ...  80 

Keeping  off  the  evil  spirits 81 

Grandfather  and  grandson — both  beggars     ...  84 

Pilgrims  praying  in  the  Via  Dolorosa       ....  85 

Waiting  for  the  Holy  Fire        92 

Gathering  the  olive  crop 93 

The  Church  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 96 

Washing  the  feet  of  the  twelve  bishops    ....  97 

A  tailor  shop  in  Jerusalem .      .  100 

The  church  of  the  best  religious  paintings     .      .      .  10 1 

Commercializing  the  holiness  of  the  Holy  City  .      .  108 

Moslem  priest  reading  the  Koran 108 

The  biblical  good  measure 109 

Bethlehem  maids 112 

Bushels  of  rosaries 113 

A  Turkish  restaurant  in  Jerusalem 116 

In  the  shoemaker's  bazaar 116 

View  of  Bethany  from  hillside 117 

The  Fountain  of  Elisha 124 

At  the  Tomb  of  Lazarus 125 

The  Healing  Stone  on  the  way  to  Jordan      .      .      .  125 

The  source  of  the  Jordan  at  Banias 128 

Our  escort  to  the  River  Jordan 129 

On  the  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea 1 32 

Fisherman  and  boat  on  the  Jordan 1 32 

A  street  in  Bethlehem 133 

xii 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING  PACE 
40 

44 

45 
48 


Christmas  Day  services  in  Bethlehem      .... 

Young  women  and  their  dowries 

At  Jacob's  Well 

The  Sacred  Scroll  of  the  Samaritans 

The  Feast  of  the  Passover  on  Mt.  Gerizim    . 

Pulling  tares  from  the  wheat 149 

The  camel  blubbers  as  his  hair  is  clipped       .      .      .  149 

Why  Palestinians  use  camels  for  ploughing   .      .      .  156 

Modern  farm  machinery  in  the  Jewish  colony    .      .  156 

The  sheep  that  was  lost  is  found 157 

Colonists  terrace  the  hillsides  with  stone  walls    .      .  160 

Picking  almonds 161 

An  avenue  of  cypresses  and  palms 164 

A  carpenter  shop  in  Nazareth 165 

Nazareth  lies  in  a  little  amphitheatre       .      .      .      .  172 

The  boys  of  Nazareth  are  friendly 172 

Mr.  Carpenter  and  the  Water  Pot  of  Cana   .      .      .  173 

We  cross  the  Sea  of  Galilee 176 

The  arched  Gate  of  Tiberias 177 

Fish  from  the  Sea  of  Galilee 180 

Capernaum — the  city  of  prophecy  fulfilled    .      .      .  180 

The  colonists  do  much  of  their  own  work      .      .      .  181 

Making  the  bread  of  Bible  times         188 

A  colonist's  home  near  Lake  Merom 189 

A  prayer  niche  in  the  Grand  Mosque       ....  192 

Where  Fatima  lies  buried  in  Damascus    .      .      .      .  193 

A  place  of  trees  with  a  river  flowing  between      .      .  196 

The  Wall  of  St.  Paul  in  Damascus 196 

Shopping  in  the  Street  called  Straight      .      .      .      .  197 

The  men  come  together  in  the  horse  market       .      .  204 

"O  Allah,  send  customers,"  cry  the  bread-sellers     .  204 

Spinning  wool  into  thread  for  a  rug 205 

xiii 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  transportation  monopoly  of  the  Bedouin 

At  the  end  of  the  Bookseller's  Bazaar 

The  street  dress  of  the  women  of  Damascus 

Mr.  Carpenter  and  the  Columns  at  Baalbek 

The  portal  of  the  Temple  of  Bacchus 

The  mighty  columns  of  the  Temple  of  the  Sun 

The  nomad  Bedouins  live  in  brown  tents 

A  lonely  grove  of  Lebanon  cedars 

Only  a  few  of  the  great  trees  are  left 

Tree-lined  avenues  lead  out  of  Beirut   . 

The  American  University  at  Beirut 

Stones  carried  up  on  the  backs  of  camels 

A  view  of  Beirut 

The  ruins  of  the  City  of  Diana 
Storks  build  their  nests  in  the  palaces  of  Ephesus 
Giving  the  silkworms  their  breakfast 
Armenian  children  make  themselves  useful 
Getting  the  Armenians  back  to  the  land 

A  cradle  of  Armenia 

American  flour  sacks  serve  a  double  purpose 
The  water  power  of  the  Jordan  will  be  developed 
The  first  steel  bridge  across  the  Jordan     . 
Jerusalem  now  has  a  speed  law 


FACING  PAGE 


208 
209 
224 
225 
228 
229 
236 
237 
240 
241 
244 
244 
245 
252 
252 

256 
257 
260 
260 
261 
268 
269 


MAPS 

The  Holy  Land 24 

The  Holy  Land  and  Syria 40 


XIV 


THE    HOLY   LAND 
AND    SYRIA 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

CHAPTER   I 

JUST   A   WORD    BEFORE    WE    START 

BY  THE  World  War  the  Moslem  was  forced  to  the 
rear  and  Palestine  has  become  more  and  more 
I  the  possession  of  Christian  and  Jew.  General 
Allenby  and  his  troops  have  taken  the  part  of 
Richard  the  Lion-hearted  and  the  Crusaders,  and 
Jerusalem  is  at  last  out  of  the  hands  of  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  Prophet  Mohammed.  Among  the  in- 
novations that  followed  are  the  removal  of  the  tax 
gatherers  who  robbed  the  poor  and  the  rich  in  the 
name  of  the  Sultan,  the  safeguarding  of  the  roads  from 
the  wandering  Bedouins,  and  the  reclaiming  of  the  soil,  so 
that  the  country  bids  fair  to  become  once  more  the  land 
of  milk  and  honey  that  it  was  when  it  gladdened  the 
tired  eyes  of  the  Israelites  after  their  long  wanderings  in 
the  desert  of  Sinai.  Railways  now  cross  the  desert,  con- 
necting Palestine  with  Egypt  and  Turkey,  and  one  may 
go  on  the  cars  from  Cairo  to  Jerusalem  and  from  Paris, 
via  Constantinople  and  Damascus,  to  Galilee. 

At  the  same  time  the  Holy  Land  of  the  Bible  is  the 
Holy  Land  of  to-day.  It  has  the  same  skies  as  those  un- 
der which  the  Wise  Men  followed  the  Star  to  the  birth- 
place of  Jesus.     It  has  the  same  flowers  as  those  trodden 

I 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

by  Joseph  and  Mary,  and  the  water  in  Jacob's  Well  is 
still  sweet,  notwithstanding  it  is  now  compared  with  that 
of  the  Nile  which  flows  in  pipes  over  the  desert  almost 
to  the  Pool  of  Siloam.  The  sheep  still  pasture  on  the 
hills  as  they  did  in  the  days  of  our  Saviour,  and  boys  and 
girls  may  be  seen  picking  the  tares  from  the  wheat.  Asses 
like  Balaam's  still  carry  their  masters  over  the  road, 
although  their  brays  are  now  and  then  drowned  in  the 
horns  of  the  automobiles;  and  the  strange  people  one  con- 
stantly meets  personify  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and 
Rachel  and  Ruth,  and  the  other  Bible  characters  who 
lived  and  loved  in  the  days  of  the  Scriptures. 

All  these  belong  to  the  Palestine  perennial,  and  to  that 
Palestine  belong  the  talks  of  this  book.  They  are  based 
on  the  notes  dictated  to  my  stenographer  or  written  by 
me  in  the  midst  of  the  scenes  they  describe.  I  give  them 
as  they  came  hot  from  the  pen,  changing  only  a  line  here 
and  there  to  accord  with  the  changing  conditions. 

We  start  in  the  Land  of  Goshen  which  Joseph  gave  to 
his  father  and  brothers  after  he  was  sold  to  the  Ishmael- 
ites  and  carried  down  into  Egypt,  and  enter  Palestine  at 
Jaffa,  the  city  of  Jonah  and  Simon  the  Tanner.  We  cross 
the  plains  of  Sharon  by  rail,  and  travel  back  and  forth 
over  the  Holy  Land  from  Beersheba  to  Dan.  Jerusalem 
and  Bethlehem,  Jericho  and  the  Jordan,  Shechem  and 
Nazareth  are  among  the  places  where  we  linger  longest, 
and  it  is  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  from 
Capernaum  that  we  take  the  train  for  Damascus.  In  that 
city  we  go  to  the  wall  over  which  Saint  Paul  was  let 
down  in  a  basket,  shop  in  the  Street  called  Straight,  and 
then,  crossing  the  Abana,  one  of  the  rivers  that  Naaman 
the  Leper  would  have  preferred  to  the  Jordan,  ascend  the 

2 


JUST  A  WORD  BEFORE  WE  START 

mountains  of  Lebanon  to  the  ruins  of  Baalbek.  We 
next  climb  down  to  the  Mediterranean  Sea  at  Beirut  and 
sail  north  to  Smyrna  to  pay  our  respects  to  the  ruined 
shrine  of  the  Goddess  Diana  on  the  site  of  old  Ephesus. 
After  a  peep  at  Asia  Minor  we  take  a  ship  for  home. 
Throughout  the  journey,  the  old  is  ever  tramping  on  the 
heels  of  the  new,  and  the  Palestine  of  the  future  is  seen 
through  the  veil  of  the  Palestine  of  the  past. 


CHAPTER    II 

IN    THE    LAND   OF   GOSHEN 

COME  with  me  this  bright  Sunday  morning  for 
a  look  at  the  old  Land  of  Goshen,  where  the 
Israelites  settled  when  they  first  came  into 
Egypt.  I  am  writing  this  at  Zagazig  not  far 
from  the  road  down  which  Joseph  was  carried  by  the 
caravan  of  Ishmaelites,  or  Bedouins,  who  had  bought 
him  of  his  brothers  and  were  on  their  way  to  sell  him  to 
Potiphar.  It  was  over  that  same  road  that  the  brothers 
of  Joseph  came  to  buy  corn  in  the  seven  years  of  famine. 
It  was  probably  near  Zagazig  that  Joseph  met  them  and 
had  the  cup  hidden  in  Benjamin's  sack,  and  from  Zag- 
azig he  came  out  in  his  chariot  to  meet  his  old  father 
Jacob  when  by  his  advice  the  patriarch  came  into 
Egypt  to  live.  Through  him  Goshen  became  a  land  of 
the  Israelites,  where  they  remained  and  prospered  until 
he  died,  and  those  "who  knew  not  Joseph"  reigned  in 
his  stead. 

The  Land  of  Goshen  is  to-day  one  of  the  finest  parts 
of  the  Nile  Valley.  My  whole  way  from  Cairo  to  Zag- 
azig was  through  rich  crops  of  cotton,  sugar  cane,  and 
clover.  There  was  green  everywhere,  and  I  could  ride 
from  here  twenty  miles  more  to  the  eastward  before 
reaching  the  desert.  The  railroad  from  Cairo  to  the 
Suez  Canal  goes  directly  through  Goshen.  It  strikes 
the  canal  at   Ismailia  and  then  branches  off  north  and 

4 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  GOSHEN 

south,  following  the  canal  to  Suez  on  the  Red  Sea,  and  to 
Port  Said  on  the  Mediterranean.  The  first  section  is 
over  the  road  which  led  from  Arabia  to  Memphis  and 
Heliopolis,  cities  long  since  replaced  by  Cairo,  the  me- 
tropolis of  Egypt.  Zagazig,  where  I  am  stopping,  is 
one  of  the  chief  cities  in  the  Delta.  It  is  on  the  fresh- 
water canal  and  the  big  irrigation  ditch  which  leads  to 
the  Nile.  It  is  famous  as  a  cotton  port,  and  to-day 
camels  are  coming  into  the  town  with  bales  on  their  backs, 
and  long  trainloads  are  starting  out  for  Alexandria  and 
Port  Said,  whence  the  cotton  will  be  shipped  off  to 
Europe  and  America. 

The  cotton  scenes  are  features  of  the  landscape  un- 
known in  the  days  of  Joseph  and  Jacob.  At  that  time 
the  only  clothes  made  in  Egypt  were  of  flax  or  wool. 
Nobody  knew  of  the  cotton  plant,  and  it  was  not  until 
the  Middle  Ages  that  Europe  learned  anything  about  it. 
The  first  knowledge  of  it  was  brought  by  the  traveller. 
Sir  John  Mandeville,  who  said  that  the  East  Indians  had 
a  shrub  or  bush,  half  vegetable  and  half  animal.  It  was 
called  the  vegetable  lamb  of  Tartary.  According  to  Sir 
John,  it  was  a  plant  which  blossomed  out  at  the  top  in 
a  living  sheep  that  bent  down  and  ate  the  grass  growing 
luxuriantly  about  it.  The  sheep  had  a  thick  coat  of  wool, 
and  from  this  came  the  cotton  of  India.  Sir  John  wrote 
that  this  plant  beast  had  flesh,  bones,  and  blood,  and 
that  he  had  not  only  seen  but  eaten  it.  He  closed  with 
the  statement  that  all  thought  it  wonderful  but  that 
"God  is  marveyllous  in  his  werkes." 

This  was  about  1350  a.d.,  and  many  years  before  the 
real  nature  of  cotton  became  known  in  Egypt  and  cot- 
ton seeds  were  planted.     Now  the  crop  is  grown  every- 

5 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

where  in  Goshen,  and  thrives  on  almost  every  spot  where 
the  feet  of  the  Israehtes  trod.  It  covers  the  Delta  and  large 
plantations  have  been  set  out  even  in  old  Nubia  and  the 
Sudan.  Cotton  has  supplanted  grain  as  a  money- 
making  crop  and  is  worth  far  more  than  the  grain  that 
Joseph  had  cornered  when  the  years  of  famine  began. 

This  Land  of  Goshen  is  a  fine  stock  country.  Camels, 
buffaloes,  and  donkeys  are  staked  out  in  the  fields,  and 
flocks  of  sheep  and  goats  feed  there,  watched  by  shep- 
herds. There  are  also  droves  of  camels  grazing  or  lying 
on  the  ground,  chewing  their  cuds.  All  have  their  herds- 
men. There  are  no  fences  in  Egypt ;  the  fields  are  bounded 
by  imaginary  lines.  Sometimes  the  limits  are  marked  by 
water  ditches,  or  little  embankments  made  for  irrigation. 

It  was  as  stock  raisers  that  the  Israelites  came  into 
Egypt,  Perhaps  it  was  because  they  were  a  pastoral 
people  that  Joseph  had  Pharaoh  give  them  this  Land  of 
Goshen,  the  eastern  part  of  which  is  fringed  by  the 
desert,  with  patches  of  scanty  vegetation  where  the  stock 
could  graze.  The  Bible  says  that  Joseph  advised  his 
brethren  to  say  to  Pharaoh,  "Thy  servants'  trade  hath 
been  about  cattle,  from  our  youth  even  until  now,  both 
we  and  also  our  fathers";  for  said  he,  "Every  shepherd 
is  an  abomination  unto  the  Egyptians." 

To-day  the  land  is  well  cultivated.  Most  of  the  fields 
are  kept  like  gardens,  and  I  see  half-naked  men  bending 
over  and  digging  the  soil  with  great  mattocks.  Here 
the  farmers  are  ploughing,  using  the  same  one-handled 
plough  of  the  days  of  the  Scriptures.  Some  of  them  have 
donkeys  and  buffaloes  hitched  together,  while  now  and 
then  one  sees  a  plough  dragged  along  by  a  cow  and  a  camel. 
There  is  much  artificial  irrigation.     Sometimes  the  water 

6 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  GOSHEN 

is  lifted  from  level  to  level  by  men  with  buckets  and 
baskets  to  which  ropes  are  slung.  In  other  places  it  is 
raised  by  the  sakieh,  a  rude  wheel  turned  by  the  cogs 
of  another  wheel  set  at  right  angles  to  it.  Clay  jars  are 
fastened  on  this  perpendicular  wheel,  and  as  this  moves 
through  the  water,  the  jars  fill  and  empty  themselves 
into  the  troughs  which  lead  to  the  little  canals.  The 
motive  power  of  the  sakieh  is  a  blindfolded  camel,  bul- 
lock, or  donkey,  the  animal  going  around  like  a  horse  in 
an  old-fashioned  bark  mill.  Many  of  the  fields  are  now 
under  water  and  the  silvery  streams  shine  out  through 
the  emerald  green  of  the  crops. 

When  the  Israelites  first  came  to  Goshen  they  prob- 
ably lived  in  tents  such  as  the  Bedouins  use  to-day. 
These  are  made  of  sheep's  wool  or  goat's  hair  rudely 
woven  by  hand.  They  are  held  up  by  ropes  and  poles 
and  are  so  low  that  the  people  must  crawl  into  them. 
We  know  that  Abraham  lived  in  a  tent,  and  it  is  likely 
that  this  was  the  case  with  Isaac  and  Jacob. 

After  coming  to  Goshen  the  Israelites  probably  copied 
the  houses  of  the  Egyptians,  building  villages  of  mud 
huts  not  unlike  those  I  now  see.  These  homes  are  rude 
to  an  extreme.  Many  of  them  are  less  than  twenty  feet 
square;  they  have  flat  roofs  and  are  often  so  low  that  I 
can  see  over  them  as  I  ride  by  on  a  camel.  They  have 
no  gardens  or  lawns.  Facing  the  street,  they  are  hud- 
dled together  without  regard  to  beauty  or  comfort. 

The  roofs  form  the  woodyards  of  the  people  below. 
The  only  fuel  they  have  is  cornstalks,  straw,  or  the 
bushes  from  which  the  cotton  has  been  picked.  This 
stuff  is  tied  up  in  bundles  and  laid  away  on  the  roofs 
until   used. 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

There  are  but  few  trees  to  be  seen.  Now  and  then  an 
acacia  grows  along  the  roadway,  and  here  and  there  are 
clumps  of  date  palms.  There  are  occasional  fruit  gar- 
dens, and  I  have  seen  many  green  orchards  loaded  with 
oranges. 

The  roads  are  usually  high  above  the  rest  of  the  coun- 
try. They  run  along  the  canals,  and  consist  of  the  dirt 
banked  up  to  hold  back  the  waters.  The  side  roads  are 
chiefly  camel  paths  or  foot  paths,  and  one  sees  everywhere 
the  traffic  moving  along  through  the  fields.  Even  on  the 
main  roads  there  are  few  wagons.  Most  of  the  freight 
is  carried  on  donkeys  and  camels,  which  are  the  common 
riding  animals  as  well.  Long-legged  Egyptians  in  tur- 
bans and  gowns  sit  on  the  rumps  of  little  donkeys,  their 
feet  almost  dragging;  and  fierce-looking  Bedouins,  their 
headdresses  tied  on  with  ropes,  bob  up  and  down  as  they 
ride  on  their  camels,  their  heads  bowing  at  every  step  of 
the  beasts.  There  are  camels  loaded  with  alfalfa,  the 
grass  so  covering  them  that  they  look  like  haystacks  on 
legs.  There  are  donkeys  laden  with  boxes  and  bags,  and 
mules  and  bullocks  carrying  freight  of  one  kind  or  another. 
Out  in  the  fields  one  now  and  then  sees  a  buffalo  with  a 
a  half-naked  boy  perched  on  it,  and  at  nightfall  the  paths 
are  lined  with  men  coming  from  the  fields  riding  these 
ungainly  beasts  and  balancing  their  one-handled  ploughs 
in  front  of  them. 

It  was  in  Goshen  that  the  Israelites  worked  after  they 
were  enslaved  by  the  Egyptians.  Here  they  built  for 
Pharaoh  the  treasure  cities  of  Pithom  and  Rameses, 
referred  to  in  Exodus,  from  which  they  were  sent  out  to 
build  other  cities  and  towns  in  various  parts  of  the 
Nile  Valley. 

8 


It  was  through  rocky  wastes  such  as  this  that  Moses  climbed  to  the 
top  of  Mount  Sinai  and  there  received  the  Ten  Commandments,  and 
there  the  Lord  spoke  with  Moses  "face  to  face,  as  a  man  speaketh  unto 
his  friend" 


The  Land  of  Goshen  still  gets  much  oi  its  water  b\'  the  primitive  wheel 
turned  by  a  blindfolded  and  resentful  camel.  This  is  the  land  which  fed 
Jacob  and  his  family  through  the  years  of  famine  in  Canaan 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  GOSHEN 

The  archaeologists  now  excavating  in  Egypt  tell  me  that 
they  frequently  find  bricks  which  were  undoubtedly  made 
by  them,  and  assert  that  the  sun-dried  bricks  of  to-day 
are  practically  the  same  as  those  the  children  of  Israel 
moulded  under  the  lash  of  their  taskmasters. 

This  is  true  of  the  ruins  of  Bubastis,  or  the  city  of  the 
worship  of  the  cat.  The  remains  of  this  town,  which  was 
situated  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  Zagazig  of  to-day, 
are  still  to  be  seen.  Its  many  buildings  of  mud  brick 
have  crumbled  almost  to  dust,  but  here  and  there  the  walls 
are  plainly  visible.  There  are  several  hundred  acres  of 
such  ruins  and  I  spent  an  hour  or  so  to-day  driving 
through  them. 

Bubastis  dates  back  to  the  times  when  the  Pyramids 
were  young.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  built  by  the 
Israelites,  and  was  a  great  city  until  it  was  captured  by 
the  Persians  about  352  b.  c.  It  was  noted  for  its  tem- 
ples devoted  to  the  cat-headed  goddess.  This  lady  had 
the  form  of  a  lioness  with  the  head  of  a  cat  and  held  in 
one  hand  a  lotus  leaf  as  a  sceptre.  Herodotus  tells  of 
her  and  of  this  city,  saying  that  the  temples  were  gor- 
geous and  that  the  stone  road  leading  to  them  was  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  feet  long.  He  says  that  as 
many  as  seven  hundred  thousand  worshippers  came  to 
the  annual  festivities.  He  relates  that  many  of  the 
worshippers  were  women  who  often  danced  and  acted  "in 
an  unseemly  manner." 

Driving  out  to  the  Bubastis,  I  found  there  a  brickyard 
in  full  swing.  It  was  situated  right  on  the  edge  of  the 
ruins,  and  the  fellaheen  of  to-day  were  moulding  the  clay 
used  by  the  Israelites  of  the  past  into  building  material 
for  the  present.     As   I   looked  at  them  my  mind  went 

9 


THE  HOLY   LAND  AND  SYRIA 

back  to  the  days  of  the  Pharaohs  when  Moses  saw  his 
people  toihng  under  the  lash.  These  men  and  women  I 
watched  were  working  under  taskmasters  or  overseers. 
Their  half-clad  bodies  were  burnt  black  by  the  tropical 
sun  and  they  looked  not  unlike  slaves.  Here  they  were 
grinding  the  mud,  there  they  were  moulding  it  into  bricks, 
while  farther  over  they  were  piling  up  those  which  had 
been  dried  in  the  sun.  The  bricks  were  carried  by  young 
girls,  bossed  by  a  burly  negro  with  a  stick  in  his  hand. 
At  his  direction  the  girls  took  the  bricks  on  their  heads 
and  carried  them  off  on  the  trot.  By  bribing  the  negro 
overseer  I  got  a  photograph  of  this  scene,  and  I  doubt 
not  my  picture  gives  a  fair  idea  of  what  went  on  in  those 
long-ago  days,  when  Pharaoh  drove  the  Israelites  to 
similar  work. 

Down  through  Goshen  came  Joseph  and  Mary  fleeing 
with  the  infant  Saviour  from  the  wrath  of  Herod,  the 
baby  killer.  This  was  then  on  the  main  highway  from 
Palestine  into  Egypt,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  they 
stopped  at  Bubastis  as  they  went  on  to  Heliopolis.  Not 
far  from  the  obelisk  of  Heliopolis  there  is  a  tree  under 
which  Mary  and  Joseph  and  the  young  Jesus  are  said  to 
have  rested.  It  is  about  five  miles  from  Cairo  and  guide 
books  speak  of  it  as  one  of  the  chief  sights  of  Egypt.  I 
doubt  the  reliability  of  their  statements.  The  tree  may 
be  the  descendant  of  one  which  stood  there  in  the  time 
of  Christ.  It  is  an  old  sycamore  gnarled  with  many 
years  and  scarred  with  the  names  of  tourists.  It  is  on  one 
of  the  estates  of  the  Khedive,  and  may  be  seen  through 
the  bars  of  a  fence  which  has  been  built  around  it  to  keep 
off  the  relic  hunters.  During  my  visit  there  I  tried  to 
climb  the  fence  in  order  to  get  a  photograph  of  it,  but 

10 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  GOSHEN 

some  of  the  Khedive's  servants  came  up  and  warned  me 
not  to  go  in.  The  tree  is  surrounded  by  orange  orchards 
which  are  irrigated  by  sakiehs  worked  by  water  buffaloes 
with  blankets  over  their  eyes. 

As  I  went  by  I  stopped  at  one  of  these  sakiehs  and  the 
men  brought  me  some  oranges  from  the  Khedive's  or- 
chard, selling  them  at  the  rate  of  eight  for  ten  cents. 
They  were  wonderfully  refreshing,  and  as  I  sat  eating 
them  in  the  shade  of  the  trees  outside  the  fence  I  won- 
dered whether  Mary  and  Joseph  had  not  perhaps  thus 
quenched  their  thirst  in  the  same  place  nearly  two  thou- 
sand years  ago.  Any  resting  place  must  have  been  wel- 
come after  the  long  ride  through  the  country  to  the 
edge  of  the  great  city  of  the  sun. 

There  are  other  stories  told  of  the  stay  of  the  Holy 
Family  in  Egypt.  One  is  that  Joseph  and  Mary  took 
the  infant  Jesus  out  to  the  Pyramids,  and  from  there 
to  the  Sphinx.  It  is  said  that  Mary  laid  Him  in  the 
lap  of  the  Sphinx,  and  that  He  slept  for  a  night  on  the 
paws  of  that  mighty  stone  beast,  half  lion,  half  woman. 

As  I  travel  through  Egypt,  these  stories  seem  more 
vivid.  I  went  down  the  other  day  to  the  banks  of  the 
Nile  where  the  little  baby  Moses  is  said  to  have  lain  in 
the  bulrushes  in  his  boat  of  papyrus,  and  as  I  stood  by 
the  obelisk  at  Heliopolis  I  was  reminded  of  the  Virgin 
and  the  Saviour  by  a  young  girl  who  had  a  baby  in  her 
arms.  She  must  have  been  about  the  same  age  that 
Mary  was  then,  and  the  little  one  laughed  and  crowed  as 
she  rested  there  under  the  tropical  sun.  At  the  same 
time  a  score  of  other  children  ranging  in  age  from  two 
to  twelve  years  gathered  around  me  and  posed  for  my 
camera  in  front  of  the  obelisk.    This  great  monolith  was 

1 1 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

undoubtedly  standing  when  our  Saviour  was  carried 
through  Egypt,  and  it  was  erected  long  before  the  baby 
Moses  was  rescued  from  the  waters  of  the  Nile.  The 
great  stone  shaft  seemed  to  tie  the  past  and  the  present 
together,  and  the  children  of  to-day  brought  to  my  mind 
those  of  the  times  of  the  Saviour. 

The  children  were  glad  to  pose  for  me,  but  as  I  snapped 
the  camera  they  rushed  to  the  front  with  hands  out- 
stretched, begging  for  baksheesh.  1  was  at  a  loss  how  to 
fee  so  many,  and  finally  gave  twenty-five  cents  to  my 
coachman  and  left  him,  to  fight  it  out  with  the  babies. 
The  little  ones  mobbed  him  and  he  had  to  threaten  them 
with  his  carriage  whip  to  keep  them  away.  He  finally 
ended  the  trouble  by  giving  each  two  children  one  half  a 
piastre,  so  that  each  received  little  more  than  one  cent. 
This  made  them  quite  happy. 

As  I  was  about  to  leave  the  obelisk  a  party  of  Amer- 
ican tourists  drove  up.  Among  them  was  a  smart  twelve- 
year-old  boy  who  put  his  hands  in  his  pockets  and  gazed 
up  at  the  stone  as  though  he  were  ready  to  buy  it.  As 
he  did  so  I  said  to  him: 

"Hello,  my  little  man,  aren't  you  an  American?" 

"You  bet  I  am,"  he  promptly  replied.  "I  came  from 
Chicago  in  the  state  of  Illinois.  You  are  English,  aren't 
you?" 

"No,  I  am  an  American,  and  my  home  is  in  Washing- 
ton." 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  the  urchin.  "I  know  all  about  that 
place.  The  President  lives  there.  Say,  what  is  the  name 
of  your  ball  team?" 

That  was  the  interesting  thing  to  him.  Out  here  under 
the  shadow  of  an  obelisk  four  thousand  years  old,  on  the 

12 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  GOSHEN 

spot  where  Joseph  was  married  to  Asenath;  where  Plato 
philosophized  and  where  Moses  played;  within  plain 
sight  of  the  Pyramids  and  near  enough  almost  to  hear 
the  whisper  of  the  Sphinx,  he  cared  nothing  for  them. 
He  was  a  live  boy,  and  he  wanted  live  things.  Therefore 
the  pitchers,  catchers,  and  shortstops  of  the  great  Amer- 
ican diamond  were  worth  more  to  him  than  all  the 
stories  of  history  and  all  the  mummies  of  the  museums. 


n 


CHAPTER   III 

THE   CITY   OF   JONAH 

1HAVE  come  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of 
the  Israelitish  "house  of  bondage,"  and  am  to-day 
on  the  edge  of  the  Promised  Land.  I  am  at  Jaffa, 
the  ancient  Joppa,  and  the  port  for  the  Holy  City. 
When  Jacob  went  down  from  the  highlands  of  Samaria 
to  the  Land  of  Goshen  to  meet  Joseph,  his  journey  took 
several  weeks.  I  made  the  trip  in  the  opposite  direction 
by  land  and  sea  in  less  than  a  day. 

I  took  the  express  train  at  Cairo  and  in  four  hours  was 
landed  at  Port  Said,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Suez  Canal, 
where  I  got  a  steamer  which  brought  me  to  Jaffa.  The 
whole  way  was  through  the  lands  of  the  Bible.  We 
struck  the  canal  at  Ismailia,  about  midway  of  the  Isth- 
mus of  Suez,  and  thence  rode  northward  along  its  banks 
to  Port  Said. 

Our  steamer  was  crowded  with  pilgrims  from  Russia, 
Egypt,  and  north  Africa.  There  were  many  Americans, 
French,  and  Germans  travelling  first  class,  and  hundreds 
of  Syrians  and  Egyptians  going  steerage.  The  Russian 
pilgrims  were  particularly  interesting  to  me.  Old  men 
and  old  women,  with  honest  faces  full  of  intelligence  and 
goodness,  they  held  their  religious  services  all  over  the 
third-class  portion  of  the  ship,  and  I  spent  two  hours 
watching  them  as  one  after  another  they  turned  their 
faces  toward  the  Holy  City  and  prayed,  crossing  them- 

14 


THE  CITY  OF  JONAH 

selves,  and  now  and  then  getting  down  upon  their  knees 
and  bumping  their  heads  against  the  deck  in  their  wor- 
ship. They  were  curiously  dressed  and  many  of  them 
wore  long  fur  coats.  Some  had  high  fur  hats  and  looked 
as  if  they  had  just  stepped  out  of  one  of  Tolstoi's  novels. 
I  was  especially  impressed  with  the  strength  of  character 
shown  in  their  faces  and  with  their  magnificent  physique. 
If  all  of  Russia's  millions  are  of  the  same  mould  as  those 
who  make  the  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  they  will  some  day 
prove  to  the  world  that  there  is  in  them  as  good  stuff  as 
ever  made  history  or  built  up  a  civilization.  The  women, 
with  their  strong,  motherly  faces  made  heroic  by  toil  and 
privation,  were  equally  as  striking  as  the  men.  They 
were  better  looking  than  any  other  peasant  women  I 
have  ever  seen,  and  the  old  saying  of  the  Greeks  came  to 
me  as  I  looked  at  them:  "If  strong  be  the  frame  of  the 
mother,  her  sons  shall  make  laws  for  the  people." 

As  the  ship  approached  the  Holy  Land  the  people 
broke  out  into  prayers,  and  in  some  cases  into  tears. 
It  is  a  religious  pilgrimage  for  them  and  they  think, 
I  doubt  not,  that  in  making  it  they  are  coming  nearer  to 
heaven. 

We  had  our  first  view  of  the  shores  of  Palestine  at 
seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  after  a  night  on  the  steamer. 
We  had  been  awakened  at  six  with  the  cry  that  we  were 
nearing  shore,  but  this  was  a  ruse  of  the  captain  to  get 
breakfast  out  of  the  way  before  landing. 

When  I  came  up  on  deck  nothing  but  the  sea  was  in 
sight.  The  sun  was  about  two  hours  high  and  the  sky, 
a  light  blue  with  long  streaks  of  fleecy  white  drawn  like 
a  half-veil  over  it,  curved  down  into  the  ocean  at  the 
eastern  horizon.    As  I  looked   I   saw  two  lines  of  hazy 

15 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

gray  rise  up  out  of  the  water,  which  rippled  in  sapphire 
wavelets,  caught  by  the  sun.  The  first  line  was  the 
sandy  beach  that  edges  the  rich  plains  of  Sharon  and  the 
second  the  wall  of  smoky  gray  which  marks  the  hills  of 
Judea  or  the  highlands  of  Palestine.  As  we  came  nearer, 
these  lines  increased  in  size,  until  the  first  turned  to  daz- 
zling white  sand,  out  of  which  a  little  later  the  wooded 
green  strip  marking  the  port  of  Jaffa  came  into  view. 
Nearer  still  we  could  see  the  shipping  in  the  harbour, 
and  above  and  behind  it  the  walls  of  this,  one  of  the  old- 
est towns  of  the  world. 

We  get  some  idea  of  the  age  of  Jaffa  from  the  story  of 
Jonah;  for  the  Bible  says  that  it  was  from  here  Jonah  took 
passage  upon  the  ship  from  which  he  was  thrown  into 
the  sea  into  the  mouth  of  the  whale.  He  remained  in  the 
whale's  belly  for  three  days,  during  which  time  he  prayed 
to  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  spake  to  the  whale,  whereupon 
he  was  vomited  out  upon  dry  land.  Jonah  was  born 
about  eight  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  Christ.  He 
was  a  baby  when,  according  to  some  authorities.  Homer 
was  telling  the  story  of  the  Iliad,  and  a  hundred  years 
had  yet  to  elapse  before  the  founding  of  Rome.  I  am 
not  sure  as  to  the  exact  spot  where  Jonah  was  taken 
up  by  the  sailors  and  thrown  into  the  sea,  but  he  is  said 
to  have  been  buried  not  far  from  Jerusalem,  and  there 
are  dragomans  who  will  show  you  his  tomb.  Ever  since 
Jonah's  time  sailors  have  been  superstitious  about  having 
preachers  along,  thinking  that  such  passengers  bring  bad 
luck  to  a  ship. 

The  harbour  of  Jaffa  is  one  of  the  worst  in  the  world. 
It  is  almost  always  rough  and  often  so  much  so  that  it  is 
impossible  to  land.     Upon  our  arrival  there  was  such  a 

i6 


These  brickmakers  work  under  a  taskmaster  to-day  just  as  the  Israel- 
ites toiled  under  the  lash  in  this  spot  nearly  four  thousand  \ears  ago. 
Here  was  built  Bubastes,  the  ancient  Egyptian  city  sacred  to  the  worship 
of  the  Cat 


We  go  ashore  in  small  boats  at  the  city  of  Jonah,  which  rises  almost 
straight  out  of  the  water — but  we  see  no  whales 


'A 


f  M  '\ 


The  best  view  of  Jaffa  is  had  from  the  roof  of  the  House  of  Simon  the 
tanner  where  St.  Peter  had  the  vision  which  led  to  the  preaching  of  Christ 
to  the  Gentiles. 


THE  CITY  OF  JONAH 

swell  that  the  boats  which  took  us  ashore  bobbed  up  and 
down  and  the  waves  soaked  our  baggage. 

As  to  Jonah  himself  and  his  narrow  escape,  one  of  our 
preachers  on  board  has  quoted  a  new  version  of  why  he 
and  the  whale  parted  company: 

"I  threw  up  Jonah,"  said  the  whale. 

Who'd  lately  come  to  town; 
"I  threw  up  Jonah, 

For  1  could  not  keep  a  good  man  down." 

In  coming  in  I  looked  for  whales.  There  were  none  in 
sight,  although  1  am  told  they  are  still  to  be  seen  in  the 
Mediterranean.  In  their  place,  however,  were  many 
jellyfish  of  an  opalescent  blue.  These  fish  were  as  big 
as  a  football  and  of  the  shape  of  a  mushroom.  There 
were  hundreds  of  them  floating  about  and  bumping 
against  the  hull  of  our  ship  as  we  lay  at  anchor. 

Besides  the  story  of  Jonah  there  are  many  well-au- 
thenticated facts  about  Jaffa  which  make  it  interesting. 
It  has  always  been  the  chief  port  for  the  Holy  Land.  It 
was  at  one  time  owned  by  the  Phoenicians,  and  later,  when 
Solomon  built  the  temple,  it  was  here  that  the  timber 
used  in  its  construction  was  landed.  Most  of  this  was 
cedar  which  came  from  the  forests  of  Lebanon  several 
hundred  miles  up  the  coast.  The  logs  were  dragged  down 
the  mountains  and  thrown  into  the  sea  at  Tyre  and 
Sidon.  They  were  there  made  into  rafts  and  towed 
down  to  Jaffa,  whence  they  were  carried  up  to  Jerusalem 
by  camels  and  men. 

Jaffa  was  an  important  port  in  the  days  of  the  Crusades, 
and  was  fought  for  again  and  again.  At  one  time  its 
walls  were  overthrown  by  Saladin,  but  a  little  later  they 

17 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

were  rebuilt  by  Richard  the  Lion-hearted,  the  King  of 
England,  who  came  here  in  a  vain  attempt  to  rescue  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  from  the  hands  of  the  Turks.  In  ad- 
dition to  all  this  there  is  a  tradition  that  Andromeda, 
the  beautiful  daughter  of  the  mythical  king  of  this 
country,  was  here  chained  to  the  rocks  in  order  that  she 
might  appease  a  huge  sea  serpent  which  threatened  to 
eat  up  the  people.  While  so  imperilled  she  was  rescued 
by  Perseus,  who  killed  the  monster  and  married  her. 
In  Pliny's  time  the  historians  state  that  the  chains  by 
which  Andromeda  was  bound  to  the  rocks  were  still  to  be 
seen,  and  that  the  bones  of  the  sea  serpent  were  carried 
to  Rome  and  placed  upon  exhibition  there. 

The  Jaffa  of  to-day  stands  upon  a  bluff  washed  by  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  The  city  is  built  right  on  the  rocks, 
with  its  yellow,  white,  and  blue  houses  coming  down  to 
the  cliff  edge.  They  rise  up  the  steep  sides  of  the  bluff 
which  makes  a  wall  cutting  off  the  view  of  the  country 
behind.  At  the  south  of  the  bluff,  as  far  as  one  can  see, 
are  white  sands.  At  the  north  are  orange  groves  and  then 
more  sand. 

As  we  left  the  ship  we  came  down  a  gangway  and  were 
lifted  into  the  boats.  The  third-class  and  steerage  pas- 
sengers were  hung  over  the  sides  of  the  deck  of  the  steamer 
by  the  arms,  and  dropped  down  into  the  boats,  twelve 
or  more  feet  below.  Some  of  the  women  screamed  as 
they  fell,  making  the  rocks  reecho  with  their  cries  as 
though  the  beautiful  Andromeda  were  still  chained  there. 
We  had  no  trouble  with  the  customs,  largely,  I  believe,  be- 
cause our  dragomans  had  given  the  officers  a  liberal  amount 
of  baksheesh.  The  examination  was  short,  and  within  half 
an  hour  after  landing  we  were  comfortably  housed  at 

i8 


THE  CITY  OF  JONAH 

the  Jerusalem  Hotel.  I  mention  this  hotel  because  I 
found  it  was  kept  by  a  character  who  was  for  a  long  time 
our  American  consular  agent.  His  name  is  Hardegg, 
and  he  spices  his  food  with  a  religious  doctrine  of  his 
own  kind.  The  hotel  rooms  are  not  numbered  i,  2,  3, 
etc.,  but  are  named  after  the  sons  of  Israel  and  the  various 
Old  Testament  prophets.  Each  of  them  contains  a  book 
which  Hardegg  has  compiled  entitled  "Bible  Pills."  It 
is  composed  of  texts  from  the  Scriptures  fitted  to  one's 
daily  life. 

The  city  of  Jaffa  has  normally  about  fifty  thousand 
inhabitants  of  whom  the  majority  are  Mohammedans 
and  the  rest  Christians  and  Jews.  It  has  considerable 
trade  and  is  rapidly  growing.  The  rich  plains  of  Sharon 
at  the  back  furnish  sesame,  grain,  and  olive  oil,  while 
the  highlands  of  Judea  and  Samaria  produce  wool,  just 
as  they  did  in  the  times  of  our  Saviour.  All  about  the 
town  are  orange  groves  the  fruit  of  which  is  shipped  to 
all  parts  of  the  Mediterranean.  The  oranges  are  almost 
the  shape  of  a  lemon,  but  they  are  of  a  great  size  and 
sweet  as  honey.  They  are  packed  up  in  boxes  at  the 
groves  and  carried  down  to  the  harbour  on  the  backs  of 
camels.  I  met  the  caravans  of  these  huge  beasts  swaying 
along  as  they  made  their  way  to  the  steamers. 

I  was  taken  through  the  native  quarters  of  Jaffa  by  a 
young  Syrian  named  Moses.  We  went  together  through 
streets  so  narrow  and  winding  that  carriages  could  not 
enter  them,  and  at  times  we  were  altogether  shaded  by 
the  houses,  the  roofs  of  which  almost  touched  overhead. 
We  entered  several  of  the  dwellings.  Each  consisted  of 
but  one  room  facing  a  court  where  the  men,  women,  and 
children  were  herded  together. 

19 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

The  house  of  Simon  the  Tanner  was  destroyed  some 
centuries  ago,  but  another  house,  which  is  probably  of 
the  same  character,  stands  on  its  site,  and  tanning  is  still 
done  in  the  neighbourhood.  At  least,  it  seems  so  by  the 
smells.  This  house  is  now  used  as  a  second-class  inn.  It 
is  a  rocky  structure,  built  high  up  over  the  sea,  with  steps 
outside  which  lead  to  the  second  story  and  roof.  I 
climbed  to  the  top,  and  there  saw  about  the  same  view 
as  did  St.  Peter.  In  front  of  me  the  blue  Mediterranean 
stretched  out  toward  the  west.  At  the  north  were  the 
glistening  sands  reaching  toward  the  ruins  of  Caesarea 
and  the  foothills  of  Mount  Carmel,  while  at  the  south  were 
the  hills  near  which  stood  Askalon.  It  was  here  that  St. 
Peter  had  that  wonderful  dream,  in  which  he  beheld  all 
the  beasts  of  the  world  let  down  from  heaven  in  a  sheet, 
in  order  that  he  might  eat  of  them.  You  remember  that 
he  refused,  saying:  "Not  so.  Lord!  for  I  have  never  eaten 
anything  that  is  common  or  unclean." 

And  then  came  a  voice  which  said:  "What  God  hath 
cleansed  that  call  not  thou  common." 

It  was  these  words  that  first  led  to  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  to  the  Gentiles,  bringing  about  the  conversion  of 
Cornelius,  the  Roman  centurion,  and  later  on  the  preach- 
ing of  Christ  to  all  the  world. 

As  my  guide  refreshed  my  biblical  memory  with  this 
story,  he  told  me  of  an  American  who  had  visited  this 
place  with  him  last  week.     Said  Moses: 

"This  American  was  a  funny  man,  and  it  seemed  to  me 
a  foolish  one.  He  was  not  satisfied  with  seeing  this  house, 
but  he  asked  me  to  show  him  the  vision  that  St.  Peter 
saw,  and  demanded  to  know  what  had  become  of  the  sheet. 
He  said  he  did  not  think  he  ought  to  pay  me  unless  I 

20 


The  men  of  Palestine  are  very  strong  and  carry  amazing  loads  on  their 
backs.  Both  men  and  women  think  little  of  walking  twenty  miles  a  day. 
Many  are  too  poor  to  keep  even  a  donkey 


Impenetrable  hedges  of  giant  cactus  bushes  intermingled  with  thorn 
are  often  used  as  fences  to  separate  land  holdings.  One  seldom  sees  a 
man  carrying  a  water  jar,  for  that  is  "women's  work"  in  the  Holy  Land 


THE  CITY  OF  JONAH 

could  show  him  the  vision,  but  I  told  him  that  I  could 
not  do  that  unless  he  had  St.  Peter's  heart,  and  I  was 
sure  that  he  had  not." 

This  American  was  probably  facetious,  but  his  ques- 
tions are  not  unlike  those  of  many  of  the  tourists  whose 
ignorance  and  superstition  surpass  belief.  Many  of  them 
credit  the  most  extravagant  stories  of  every  guide,  and 
go  about  kissing  spots  which  they  imagine  to  be  hal- 
lowed by  their  connection  with  the  Bible,  but  of  whose 
authenticity  no  one  knows. 

There  is  one  thing  1  must  not  forget  about  Jaffa, 
and  that  is  that  here  was  born  the  modern  sewing  bee,  I 
might  almost  say  the  Woman's  Missionary  Society.  You 
have  all  heard  of  Dorcas,  the  queen  of  the  needle,  who 
was  raised  from  the  dead  by  St.  Peter.  She  was  noted 
for  the  garments  she  had  made  for  the  poor,  and  at  her 
funeral  the  people  gathered  round  and  showed  specimens 
of  the  needlework  she  had  sewed  and  hemmed  and 
stitched  for  them, 

Dorcas  lived  two  or  three  miles  outside  Jaffa  on  a  hill 
which  has  a  commanding  view  of  the  country  for  miles 
around.  It  overlooks  the  sea  and  land,  including  thou- 
sands of  acres  of  orange  groves  and  gardens  containing 
all  kinds  of  fruits.  The  site  of  her  house  is  now  occupied 
by  a  Russian  Greek  Catholic  Church  and  a  tomb  has 
been  erected  over  her  grave  hard  by. 

I  drove  out  to  the  place  in  a  carriage,  winding  my  way 
in  and  out  through  orange  groves  and  up  the  hill  to  the 
church.  Here  I  met  a  Russian  priest,  who  was  acquiring 
merit  by  guarding  the  bones  of  the  saint  in  whose  honour 
prayers  are  said  daily.  It  was  with  him  that  I  visited 
the  tomb.     It  is  of  stone  and  is  roofed  by  a  dome,  the 

21 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

whole  being  covered  with  plaster.  There  is  a  door  at 
the  front,  and  by  descending  several  steps  one  can  see 
the  piece  of  mosaic  which  covers  the  spot  where  Dorcas 
lies.  There  are  catacombs  to  the  right  and  left  contain- 
ing the  bones  of  saints,  and  over  the  whole  rise  magnificent 
trees. 


22 


CHAPTER  IV 

BY    RAILWAY   TO   THE    LAND    OF   JUDEA 


■^AKE  a  seat  with  me  this  morning  in  the  railroad 
car  which  is  just  about  leaving  the  seaport  of 
Jaffa  to  go  to  Jerusalem.  The  distance  by  rail 
is  only  fifty-four  miles,  but  it  will  take  us  more 
than  four  hours.  Crossing  the  rich  plains  of  Sharon, 
the  road  winds  its  way  up  the  hills  of  Judea  until  it 
brings  us  to  the  Holy  City,  about  twenty-five  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea. 

The  cars  are  comfortable,  but  we  have  had  to  fight 
with  the  tourists  and  pilgrims  for  our  seats  near  the 
windows.  A  German  and  a  Greek  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  coach  are  still  quarrelling  for  places,  using  language 
not  that  of  brotherly  love.  The  German  has  just  called 
the  Greek  a  swine,  while  the  Greek  has  retaliated  by 
simply  calling  the  German  a  dog.  But  now  they  are 
quiet  and  we  can  enjoy  the  scenery  as  we  go  on. 

Leaving  Jaffa  we  ride  for  some  miles  through  orchards. 
There  are  orange  groves  loaded  with  blossoms  and  fruit. 
There  are  orchards  of  olives,  pomegranates,  and  figs, 
and  many  gardens  surrounded  by  cactus  hedges  twice  as 
high  as  our  heads.  Next  we  enter  the  rich  plain  where 
the  Philistines  lived.  The  soil  is  brown  and  so  fat  that 
you  have  only  to  tickle  it  with  the  plough  and  it  laughs 
with  the  harvest.  You  do  not  wonder  that  the  Philis- 
tines fought  for  this  fertile  land. 

2^ 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

Here  is  a  green  field  of  wheat.  The  stalks  stand  as 
thick  as  grass,  and  rise  and  fall  with  the  winds  from  the 
sea.  There  a  native  is  ploughing  with  a  bullock  and  don- 
key harnessed  together.  The  plough  is  the  rude  implement 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  dark-skinned  farmer  steadies 
it  with  one  hand,  while  he  carries  a  goad  in  the  other. 
Farther  on  are  camels  dragging  the  ploughs.  In  places 
we  see  flocks  of  fat  sheep,  herded  by  boys,  and  now  and 
then  pass  a  village  of  flat,  white-walled  houses  with  thick 
roofs  of  thatch  on  which  the  grass  grows.  Nearly  every 
house  has  a  roof  of  sod  about  a  foot  deep,  and  as  we  near 
the  hills,  the  towns  on  their  sides  rise  up  in  green  terraces. 

Here  some  shepherds  in  sheep-skin  coats,  with  the  wool 
inside,  are  watching  their  flocks,  and  there,  pulling  up 
bunches  of  grass  for  her  cattle,  is  a  maiden  who  makes  us 
think  of  Ruth  gathering  wheat  in  the  harvest-fields  of 
Boaz.  Here  and  there  throughout  the  plains  of  Sharon 
we  see  the  watch-towers  built  for  soldiers  posted  to  en- 
sure the  Turkish  Sultan's  share  of  the  farmers'  crops. 

The  landscape  here  is  far  different  from  that  of  the 
United  States.  There  are  no  houses  or  barns  standing 
alone  in  the  fields.  There  are  no  outbuildings  of  any 
description,  and  no  haystacks  or  strawstacks.  The  peo- 
ple live  in  villages  and  go  out  to  work  in  the  fields.  The 
only  fences  are  cactus  hedges,  but  most  of  the  holdings 
are  not  fenced  in  at  all. 

The  land  is  fertile  clear  to  the  mountains,  a  distance  of 
perhaps  twenty  miles.  In  the  foothills  there  are  patches 
of  green,  while  higher  up  fields  are  here  and  there  cut 
out  of  the  rocks,  which  are  built  up  to  hold  in  the  earth. 
I  have  never  seen  a  country  more  rocky.  The  rough 
lands  of  the  Blue  Ridge  are  Nile  farms  compared  to  the 

24 


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THE    HOLY    LAND 


/O 


BY  RAILWAY  TO  THE  LAND  OF  JUDEA 

hills  through  which  our  train  climbs  up  to  Jerusalem. 
In  many  places  there  is  nothing  but  rocks.  The  lime- 
stone strata  are  piled  stone  upon  stone,  looking  like 
mighty  monuments  rising  on  the  hills.  In  some  places 
mountains  rise  in  steps  forming  pyramids  of  white  lime- 
stone, sparsely  sprinkled  with  patches  of  grass  and  red 
poppies. 

As  we  begin  to  ascend  the  hills  of  Judea,  we  come  into 
the  real  land  of  the  Israelites.  Our  railroad  winds  in  and 
out  among  little  mountains  and  we  can  see  that  in  the 
past  the  whole  country  was  terraced  and  that  not  a  bit 
of  land  went  to  waste.  What  is  now  the  grazing  ground 
for  sheep  and  cattle  was  once  a  garden. 

Palestine  reminds  us  of  other  parts  of  the  world.  The 
rich  fruit  of  the  orange  groves  of  Jaffa  makes  us  think  of 
Florida.  Were  it  not  for  the  lack  of  fences  and  barns, 
the  plains  of  Sharon  might  be  a  slice  out  of  Lancaster 
County,  Pennsylvania,  or  the  rich  fields  of  the  Scioto 
Valley  in  Ohio.  These  hills  are  very  like  Italy  near 
Genoa,  or  south  France  about  Nice  and  Monte  Carlo. 
The  terraces  are  planted  with  olive  trees  and  we  see 
gray-green  olive  orchards  everywhere. 

As  we  rise  the  air  becomes  purer  and  fresher.  We  pass 
the  spot  on  which  David  is  said  to  have  killed  Goliath, 
and  see  in  the  distance  the  town  of  Mizpah,  where  the 
Prophet  anointed  Saul  king  when  the  latter  was  out 
hunting  his  father's  asses.  When  we  see  an  old  bearded 
and  turbaned  Syrian  riding  along  on  his  donkey,  we  won- 
der if  he  may  not  be  a  second  Balaam,  and  we  almost 
expect  his  donkey  to  open  its  mouth  and  speak  to  its 
master. 

But  let  me  tell  you  something  about  the  railroad  up  to 

25 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

Jerusalem.  The  track  is  narrow  gauge,  and  the  coaches 
are  much  Hke  street  cars,  with  Httle  racks  for  baggage  along 
each  side  under  the  roof.  Each  carriage  is  divided  into 
compartments  the  sides  of  which  are  walled  with  windows. 
The  road  has  no  tunnels,  and  it  winds  its  way  in  and  out 
as  it  climbs  the  hills.  There  are  five  stations  between 
Jaffa  and  Jerusalem. 

The  total  cost  of  the  railroad  was  two  million  dollars, 
or  a  little  less  than  forty  thousand  dollars  per  mile.  The 
idea  of  the  road  was  originated  by  an  American,  a  civil 
engineer  named  Zimpel,  who  came  to  Palestine  as  a  ped- 
lar of  a  patent  medicine  which  he  called  "Sunlight 
Pills."  He  brought  the  scheme  before  the  Sultan  at 
Constantinople,  but  failed  to  get  the  concession  to  build 
it.  After  his  death  the  matter  was  taken  up  by  the 
French,  who  put  the  line  through. 

This  was  the  first  railroad  built  in  Syria,  and  it  is  the 
father  of  a  system  which  is  now  opening  up  a  great  part 
of  the  country.  One  section  is  the  road  building  from 
Damascus  toward  Mecca,  and  connected  with  it  are 
others  which  will  eventually  join  the  Holy  Land  to  the 
valley  of  the  Euphrates,  as  well  as  to  Asia  Minor  and 
Turkey.  The  rates  for  both  passengers  and  freight  are 
much  higher  than  in  the  United  States. 

As  it  goes  up  the  mountains,  the  railway  twists  this 
way  and  that.  It  crawls  along  the  sides  of  the  hills  with 
horseshoe  curves  here  and  there.  The  whole  journey  is 
over  historic  ground.  We  cross  the  plains  where  Samson 
fought  with  the  Philistines,  slaying  a  thousand  of  them 
with  the  jawbone  of  an  ass.  We  see  the  place  where  he 
tied  the  firebrands  to  the  tails  of  three  hundred  foxes 
and  let  them  loose  to  burn  up  the  harvest.     A  little  far- 

26 


BY  RAILWAY  TO  THE  LAND  OF  JUDEA 

ther  on  we  enter  the  valley  of  Sorek,  where  the  wicked 
Delilah  cut  off  the  hair  of  the  strong  man  as  he  lay  asleep 
in  her  lap,  and  away  up  on  the  side  of  the  hill  we  can  see 
the  town  of  Zorah,  where  Samson  was  born.  At  the 
station  of  Deir  Aban,  where  Samuel  raised  his  Ebenezer, 
a  crowd  of  children  comes  to  the  trains  with  bouquets 
of  wild  flowers.  The  boys  whine  for  baksheesh.  We 
wonder  whether  there  may  not  be  an  infant  Samson 
among  them. 

It  was  in  Zorah  that  Samson  was  buried,  and  the  guides 
will  show  you  his  tomb.  Farther  along  the  road  we  pass 
through  a  great  gorge  in  the  cliffs,  on  the  north  side  of 
which,  near  the  top,  is  a  cave,  where  Samson  lived,  and 
I  verily  believe  if  we  should  offer  the  guides  sufficient 
reward  they  would  find  us  his  bones  or  some  pieces  of 
brass  from  the  gates  of  the  city  of  Gaza,  which,  you  re- 
member, he  carried  away  on  his  shoulders. 

In  our  ride  up  to  Jerusalem  we  go  by  the  ancient  city 
of  Gezer.  It  is  marked  by  a  mound  which  has  several 
buildings  upon  it,  including  the  dome  of  a  Mohammedan 
mosque.  The  ground  about  it  has  been  dug  over  and 
over,  and  the  ruins  discovered  have  excited  the  religious 
and  scientific  world. 

The  excavations  made  by  the  Palestine  Exploration 
Fund  show  it  to  be  one  of  the  oldest  of  cities.  The 
scientists  have  gone  down  into  the  earth  at  this  point, 
finding  one  city  built  upon  the  ruins  of  another,  down 
to  the  seventh  city,  which  seems  to  have  been  oc- 
cupied by  the  cave  dwellers  of  the  Flint  or  Stone  Age, 
a  period  before  recorded  history  began.  In  these  cave 
dwellings  pottery  and  flint  instruments  were  discovered. 
A  burial  place  of  that  ancient  race  was  opened  up  and 

27 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

remains  were  found  which  show  that  the  cave  dwellers 
practised  cremation.  In  one  of  the  six  other  cities,  higher 
up,  bronze  tools  were  discovered,  and  higher  still  the  relics 
of  an  ancient  Egyptian  civilization.  In  one  of  the  caves 
were  found  large  jars  containing  the  skeletons  of  infants 
that  had  been  sacrificed  to  some  pagan  idol,  probably 
during  the  Canaanite  period.  In  another  was  a  cistern, 
the  mouth  of  which  was  guarded  by  the  skulls  of  two 
young  girls,  and  inside  which  were  fourteen  skeletons, 
one  that  of  a  girl  of  sixteen  who  had  been  sawn  asunder. 

The  King  of  Gezer  was  defeated  by  Joshua,  and  later 
the  city  was  captured  by  a  king  of  Egypt,  who  was  one 
of  Solomon's  three  hundred-odd  fathers-in-law.  The 
story  is  that  Pharaoh  gave  Gezer  to  Solomon  as  a  dowry 
with  his  daughter,  and  that  Solomon  rebuilt  the  city. 
At  the  time  of  the  Crusades  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  and 
Saladin  fought  over  it,  and  it  was  an  important  fortress 
at  the  time  of  the  Maccabees. 

The  archaeologists  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund 
have  discovered  bronze  pots,  ivory  tablets,  statues,  and 
jewels  and  other  treasures  of  a  half-dozen  different  pe- 
riods of  history.  In  one  of  the  cities  a  complete  olive  press 
made  of  stone  was  unearthed,  and  in  another  an  Egyptian 
statuette  about  four  thousand  years  old.  The  figure 
was  that  of  a  man  with  a  beard  and  a  wig.  Bronze 
tweezers  were  found  as  well  as  many  articles  of  Greek 
and  Roman  times.  One  of  the  most  interesting  discov- 
eries was  a  reservoir  with  a  capacity  of  four  million 
gallons.  Another  was  a  place  supposed  to  belong  to  one 
of  the  Maccabees. 

The  Palestine  Exploration  Fund  is  not  a  religious  body, 
but  rather  a  scientific  and  historical  society.     It  has  spent 

28 


Camels  and  donkeys,  as  well  as  bullocks,  arc  hitched  to  the  low,  one- 
handled  wooden  ploughs  of  Palestine,  the  same  to-day  as  centuries  ago 


The  children  are  what  we  like  best  in  the  Holy  Land,  even  though  they 
have  generally  learned  from  their  elders  the  habit  of  begging  for  backsheesh 


The  ass  of  this  sheeted  Balaam  upcns  his  mouth  but  onl\'  a  bray 
comes  forth.  The  roads  are  so  fearful  that  many  places  ma\'  not  be 
reached  by  wheeled  vehicles  and  the  sure-footed  donkey  is  usually  the 
best  mount 


BY  RAILWAY  TO  THE  LAND  OF  JUDEA 

about  fourteen  thousand  dollars  a  year  on  such  work, 
most  of  the  sums  being  collected  in  amounts  of  five  dol- 
lars or  less  from  English  and  Americans  all  over  the 
world.  The  Fund  has  made  great  discoveries  in  Je- 
rusalem. It  has  surveyed  and  mapped  a  great  part  of 
Palestine  and  has  added  many  Bible  sites  to  those  al- 
ready known. 


29 


CHAPTER  V 

FROM    DAN    TO    BEERSHEBA 

THE  size  of  Palestine  is  surprising  to  every  visitor. 
You  know  it  is  small,  but  you  cannot  appreciate 
how  small  it  is  until  you  have  travelled  over  it. 
Then  you  see  why  it  has  been  called  "the  least 
of  all  lands."  The  whole  country  does  not  average  more 
than  fifty  miles  wide,  and  it  is  only  about  a  hundred  and 
forty  miles  long.  You  could  lose  it  in  many  of  the  counties 
of  Texas,  and  on  some  of  its  mountains  you  can  look  from 
one  side  of  it  to  the  other.  Standing  on  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  just  outside  of  Jerusalem,  I  could  see  the  Mediter- 
ranean on  the  west  and  on  the  east  the  Dead  Sea  and  the 
River  Jordan.  From  Dan  to  Beersheba  is  not  as  far 
as  from  New  York  to  Washington,  and  the  "stormy 
banks"  of  the  Jordan  inclose  a  stream  across  many  parts 
of  which  you  can  easily  throw  a  stone,  and  which  though 
it  winds  in  and  out  like  a  corkscrew,  is  not  over  two  hun- 
dred miles  long.  The  Mount  of  Olives,  upon  which  Jesus 
was  taken  by  the  Devil,  is  described  as  "an  exceeding 
high  mountain,"  but  it  is  only  about  twenty-seven  hundred 
feet  high  and  would  be  no  more  than  a  hill  in  the  Rockies. 
"All  the  kingdoms  of  the  world"  which  Satan  showed 
him  consisted  of  a  few  half-barren  hills  and  some  fertile 
plains,  which  together  would  not  make  more  than  a  good- 
sized  Western  county.  With  an  aeroplane  we  could  fly 
across  the  whole  of  Palestine  in  less  than  an  hour.     In- 

30 


FROM   DAN  TO  BEERSHEBA 

eluding  Syria,  which  takes  in  the  mountains  of  Lebanon 
and  much  other  country  in  addition  to  Palestine  proper,  it 
is  not  as  long  as  from  New  York  to  Pittsburgh.  It  begins 
at  the  boundary  of  the  French  Mandate  of  Syria  on  the 
north,  and  extends  from  there  southward  along  the  line  of 
the  Mediterranean  Sea  until  it  is  lost  in  the  sands  of 
Arabia. 

Though  it  has  bulked  so  large  in  history  and  religion, 
the  Holy  Land  itself  is  not  as  big  as  Rhode  Island,  while 
all  Palestine  is  only  about  the  size  of  Vermont.  If  you 
could  take  it  up  and  stretch  it  over  the  United  States  it 
would  hardly  make  a  patch  of  court  plaster  on  Uncle 
Sam's  body.  Dropped  down  upon  New  England,  with 
one  end  at  Boston,  the  other  would  be  at  Mount  Wash- 
ington, and  most  of  the  country  would  not  be  wider  than 
from  Boston  to  Springfield.  If  spread  out  upon  northern 
Illinois  the  whole  might  be  included  inside  a  line  drawn 
from  Chicago  to  Aurora  and  thence  to  Decatur  and 
back  to  Chicago. 

The  Bible  has  called  this  little  territory  a  land  of  milk 
and  honey.  The  expression  must  have  been  used  by 
contrast  to  the  dreary  sand  of  the  Sinai  desert,  through 
which  the  Israelites  travelled  on  their  way  hither.  As 
I  know  from  former  travels,  it  is  more  rocky  than  any 
part  of  the  Alleghanies;  and  the  Blue  Ridge  of  Virginia, 
which  is  covered  with  stones,  is  the  Mississippi  Valley 
compared  with  it.  The  country  has  a  backbone  of  moun- 
tains comprising  the  hills  of  Judea,  Samaria,  and  Galilee, 
with  a  low  coastal  plain,  where  the  Philistines  lived,  extend- 
ing to  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
backbone  is  the  great  ditch  in  which  lie  the  Sea  of  Tiberias, 
or  Galilee,  and  the  Dead  Sea,  with  the  winding  Jordan 

31 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

running  from  one  to  the  other.  This  ditch  is  below  the 
level  of  the  sea  and  parts  of  it  have  the  hottest  and  most 
oppressive  climate  on  earth.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the 
Jordan  toward  the  east  is  a  country  much  richer  than 
Palestine.  1 1  is  composed  of  highlands  from  two  thousand 
to  three  thousand  feet  above  sea  level,  giving  excellent 
pasture  and,  in  the  north,  large  crops  of  wheat.  This 
was  the  Bashan,  Gilead,  and  Moab  of  the  Bible,  and  it 
is  now  inhabited  chiefly  by  Mohammedan  Bedouins,  who 
live  in  tents,  driving  their  camels,  cattle,  and  sheep  from 
place  to  place.  In  the  past  it  was  thickly  populated, 
and  archaeologists  have  uncovered  the  ruined  cities  of 
the  people  who  used  to  live  there.  Palestine,  on  the  other 
hand,  could  never  have  had  a  very  large  population,  and 
the  "hosts"  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  would  dwindle 
by  comparison  with  the  numbers  of  people  we  are  used 
to  nowadays. 

The  trip  from  Jaffa  to  Jerusalem  gives  us  a  fair  idea 
of  the  character  of  the  country.  The  coastal  plain  is 
typical  of  the  richest  part.  Its  soil  is  a  chocolate  brown, 
the  grass  is  as  green  as  that  of  Egypt,  and  there  are  great 
orchards  of  olives  and  fruits  of  all  kinds.  The  roads  are 
lined  with  rich  red  poppies  and  there  are  wild  flowers  on 
all  sides. 

Climbing  the  hills  is  like  jumping  from  the  Nile  Valley 
into  the  desert.  There  is  nothing  but  rocks  with  a  sparse 
vegetation  scattered  here  and  there  through  them.  The 
limestone  crops  out  everywhere,  and  in  places  heaps  of 
stones  have  been  thrown  up  to  make  little  fields.  Such 
fields  are  fenced  with  stone  walls.  There  are  also  corrals 
for  the  sheep  made  in  this  way. 

Palestine  has  no  woods.    There  are  no  groves  or  bushes. 

32 


Fuel  is  so  scarce  in  this  land  of  no  woods  that  even  roots  and  twigs 
bring  good  prices.  Two  years  of  poor  olive  crops  often  drive  the  peasants 
to  cutting  down  their  precious  olive  trees  and  selling  them 


The  Pool  of  Hezekiah,  opened  b\'  an  ancient  Hebrew  king  in  the  cit\' 
of  Jerusalem,  is  fed  by  a  fountain  in  the  hills.  Not  until  the  British  came 
did  the  city  have  an  adequate  water-suppl\'.  One  old  Arab  said,  "  For  four 
hundred  vears,  the  Turks  did  not  give  us  so  much  as  a  cup  of  cold  water" 


FROM   DAN  TO  BEERSHEBA 

Almost  the  only  trees  are  fruit  trees,  with  now  and 
then  a  funereal  cypress  in  a  garden.  Our  consul  tells 
me  that  the  country  has  two  groves  which  the  people 
call  forests.  One  of  these  contains  forty  scrub  oaks  and 
the  other  is  not  quite  so  large.  He  says  that  a  few 
years  ago  there  was  some  brush  on  the  hillside,  but 
that  the  people  have  even  dug  up  the  roots  and  sold 
them  for  fuel. 

Indeed,  fuel  is  one  of  the  most  costly  things  in  this 
country.  It  is  so  expensive  that  it  is  seldom  used  except 
for  cooking,  and  that  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the 
climate  is  cold.  Wood  is  so  valuable  that  the  older  olive 
trees  are  being  cut  down,  and  it  is  feared  that  the  olive 
orchards  will  gradually  disappear.  These  old  trees  are 
often  of  considerable  thickness,  but  they  are  only  twenty 
or  thirty  feet  tall  so  that  one  will  supply  but  a  small 
amount  of  firewood.  The  olive  tree  is  as  hard  as  the 
apple  and  far  more  knotted  and  gnarly.  Its  wood  is 
heavy  and  is  sold  by  the  ton.  It  is  brought  in  on  the 
backs  of  donkeys  and  camels  and  every  stick  has  to  pay  a 
tax  before  it  gets  inside  the  gates  of  Jerusalem. 

A  common  fuel  is  charcoal,  made  mostly  of  olive  wood. 
It  is  made  chiefly  at  Hebron,  about  twenty-three  miles 
south  of  Jerusalem,  near  the  cave  where  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob  are  buried  and  where  tradition  says  Adam  died. 
Hebron,  which  is  about  five  hundred  feet  higher  than 
Jerusalem,  has  big  orchards  of  olives,  almonds,  and  ap- 
ples, the  brush  and  the  dead  wood  of  which  are  used  to 
make  charcoal. 

The  use  of  coal  is  almost  out  of  the  question  on  account 
of  the  high  rates  over  the  railroads.  The  same  charge  is 
made  for  carrying  coal  as  for  carrying  silk.     Such  coal 

33 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  SYRIA 

as  comes  here  is  in  the  shape  of  briquettes  and  sells  for 
high  prices. 

Another  lack  from  which  the  Holy  Land  suffers  is  water. 
The  rainfall  in  the  southern  sections  is  something  like  six 
inches  and  upward  a  year,  the  amount  gradually  increas- 
ing as  one  goes  northward  toward  Galilee.  The  country 
has  always  been  one  of  pools  and  wells,  and  every  house 
in  Jerusalem  has  its  roofs  so  made  that  they  drain  into 
cisterns  placed  in  the  courts.  In  dry  seasons  water  is 
sold,  and  the  man  who  has  a  spare  cistern  gets  a  big  price 
for  his  surplus. 

Nearly  all  the  wells  of  the  olden  times  remain,  and  are 
pointed  out  by  the  dragomans.  One  can  drink  from  the 
well  where  Christ  met  the  Samaritan  woman,  and  from 
many  cisterns  scattered  over  the  country.  Most  of  them 
are  shaped  like  great  pears. 

When  the  pools  of  Solomon  were  connected  with  Je- 
rusalem it  was  thought  that  they  would  supply  the  city 
with  water.  These  pools  are  on  the  highlands  between 
Bethlehem  and  Hebron.  They  are  cut  out  of  the  solid 
rock,  and  it  is  said  that  they  originally  held  about  forty 
million  gallons.  There  are  three  of  them,  ranging  in 
height  from  three  hundred  and  eighty  to  five  hundred 
and  eighty  feet.  They  lie  in  terraces  one  above  the  other, 
being  of  varying  widths.  The  depths  are  from  twenty- 
five  to  fifty  feet.  If  they  were  in  good  condition  they 
could  supply  a  vast  deal  of  water,  but  as  it  is,  the  aque- 
ducts which  Solomon  built  to  Jerusalem  have  gone  to  ruin, 
and  there  is  now  only  a  four-inch  iron  pipe  running  from 
them  to  the  city.  The  pipe  comes  in  near  the  Dung  Gate 
and  goes  from  there  to  the  temple  platform.  I  stumbled 
over  it  the  other  day.     I  am  told  that  the  water  is  used 

34 


FROM   DAN  TO  BEERSHEBA 

almost  altogether  for  the  Mosque  of  Omar,  although  it  is 
connected  with  the  fountains  of  the  city,  which  are  only 
occasionally  allowed  to  play. 

In  addition  to  these  pools  there  are  many  others  in  and 
about  Jerusalem.  The  Pool  of  Hezekiah  is  in  the  heart 
of  the  city,  not  far  from  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepul- 
chre; and  the  Pool  of  Siloam,  where  Our  Lord  sent  the 
blind  man  to  wash,  is  in  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  out- 
side the  walls. 

Just  now  the  Holy  Land  is  suffering  from  drought  and 
the  people  are  praying  for  rain.  We  have  had  one  or 
two  showers  in  the  last  few  days,  but  more  is  needed  or 
the  crops  will  fail.  Most  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem 
are  great  believers  in  prayer,  and  Mohammedans,  Chris- 
tians, and  Jews  are  all  holding  services  at  which  they 
ask  the  Lord  to  send  water. 

We  had  a  slight  rain  yesterday  and  more  is  expected. 
The  people  evidently  think  their  prayers  will  be  answered. 
As  1  walked  through  David  Street  1  heard  two  Moham- 
medans talking.  Their  language  was  Arabic,  but  my 
dragomans  told  me  that  one  had  just  said  to  the  other: 

"How  good  God  is,  after  all.  We  have  prayed  for  the 
rain  and,  lo,  it  has  come." 

When  the  first  shower  began  to  fall  I  was  standing 
in  a  doorway.  A  little  girl,  perhaps  eight  years  old, 
passed  by  with  a  platter  of  bread  on  her  head.  The  rain 
was  pouring  down  upon  it  and  she  was  wet  to  the  skin, 
but  nevertheless  she  was  singing.  1  asked  my  guide  the 
words  of  her  song.  He  replied:  "She  cries:  'Praise 
God  for  the  rain!  Praise  God  for  the  rain!  Praise  God 
for  the  rain!'" 


35 


CHAPTER  VI 

JERUSALEM    IN    THE    TWENTIETH    CENTURY 

I  WRITE  these  words  on  the  housetop  of  a  bishop's 
residence  on  the  summit  of  Mount  Zion  and  in  the 
centre  of  the  Holy  City.  My  typewriter  stands  within 
thirty  feet  of  the  great  square  Tower  of  David  the 
base  of  which  was  undoubtedly  built  before  the  time  of 
Christ.  At  my  left,  surrounded  by  the  yellow  stone  walls 
of  the  houses,  is  the  dark  green  pool  Hezekiah  made  to  sup- 
ply Jerusalem  with  water  in  case  of  siege,  and  beyond  it, 
out  of  the  jumble  of  buildings,  shines  the  huge  bronze  dome 
erected  over  the  spot  where  Christ  was  crucified.  Not 
half  a  mile  away  on  a  plateau  covering  thirty-five  acres 
is  a  big  octagonal  tower  with  a  bulbous  bronze  dome. 
That  is  the  Mosque  of  Omar  which  rises  on  the  very  site 
of  Solomon's  temple.  At  its  left  is  the  church  built  over 
the  Roman  mosaic  floor  of  the  house  of  Pontius  Pilate. 

Jerusalem  lies  in  a  nest  of  mountains.  It  is  built  on 
an  irregular  plateau  with  valleys  all  about  it  and  steep 
hills  rising  straight  up  from  these  to  the  city  and  to  the 
higher  hills  on  the  opposite  sides.  The  site  of  the  city 
runs  over  height  and  hollow,  and  was  probably  chosen 
for  the  capital  of  Judea  on  account  of  the  great  gorges 
about  it,  by  which  it  could  be  the  more  easily  defended 
against  attack. 

Around  the  edge  of  the  plateau  is  a  wall  about  thirty 
feet  high  enclosing  the  Jerusalem  of  to-day.     The  wall 

36 


'.-fl-a*^ 


,*^**  *^.,w ■'-•;.      *:•■  "rj»f.   ^J.  -".    '     ■*    >'  ' 


-A-*.  V  ii^. 


Vv. 


Jerusalem  lies  in  a  nest  of  hills  which  seem  flattened  out  when  viewed 
from  an  airplane.  It  is  on  a  plateau  twenty-five  hundred  feet  above 
sea-level,  and  the  city  is  divided  into  four  quarters,  each  on  its  own  hill 


The  walls  of  the  Holy  Citv  were  breached  at  the  Jaffa  gate  to  provide 
a  special  entrance  for  the  German  Kaiser  when  he  visited  Jerusalem. 
He  was  arrayed  as  a  crusading  knight  and  rode  a  prancing  snow-white 
steed 


JERUSALEM   IN  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 

runs  along  the  rims  of  the  valleys,  climbing  up  hill 
and  down,  making  its  way  around  the  Holy  City  until 
it  comes  again  to  the  Jaffa  Gate  which  is  just  below 
me. 

The  Holy  City  now  covers  twice  as  much  space  as  it 
did  when  I  was  first  here  a  good  many  years  ago.  It 
has  doubled  in  size  and  has  some  sixty  thousand  people. 
At  that  time  most  of  the  inhabitants  were  crowded  to- 
gether inside  the  walls.  They  are  crowded  still,  but  to 
the  north,  south,  and  west  large  Jewish  settlements  have 
sprung  up,  and  among  and  beyond  them  have  been  built 
great  hospices,  hospitals,  convents,  cathedrals,  and  hotels, 
so  that  the  population  outside  the  walls  almost  equals 
that  within.  The  new  buildings  have  extended  to  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  and  are  working  their  way  toward  the 
east  along  the  road  to  Jaffa. 

Seated  here  upon  the  site  of  King  David's  palace,  1  see 
the  whole  city  spread  out  beneath  me.  What  a  curious 
place  it  is!  In  my  tours  of  the  world  I  have  found  no 
spot  so  full  of  strange  sights  and  picturesque  characters, 
so  different  in  most  particulars  from  every  other  town  of 
the  world.  Aside  from  its  wonderfully  interesting  his- 
torical associations,  Jerusalem  has  a  character  of  its  own. 
It  looks  more  like  a  great  honeycomb  than  a  city.  The 
houses  are  piled  one  above  the  other  in  all  sorts  of  ir- 
regularities. If  you  would  take  a  half-section  of  land  and 
scatter  over  it  gigantic  packing  boxes  just  as  you  find 
them  in  a  down-town  alley,  you  might  get  some  idea  of 
Jerusalem  as  it  looks  to  me  from  Mount  Zion.  These 
houses  have  no  chimneys  and  their  stone  roofs  are  almost 
flat.  Many  of  the  roofs  have  in  the  centre  little  domes  that 
remind  me  of  beehives.     If  the  town  were  on  a  level  these 

37 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

domes  would  look  like  the  haycocks  in  a  meadow  at 
harvest  time. 

The  wood  used  in  the  construction  of  Jerusalem  would 
not  last  an  American  family  a  winter.  Yellow  limestone 
is  the  sole  building  material.  The  roofs,  walls,  and  floors 
of  these  thousands  of  houses  are  of  this  cold,  yellowish- 
white  rock.  Even  in  the  Bishop's  mansion,  which  is  one 
of  the  finest  in  the  city,  I  step  out  of  my  bed  on  to  a  stone 
floor  and  walk  to  my  breakfast  down  stone  steps  and 
through  stone  halls. 

Now  look  at  the  streets  with  me.  They  are  narrow  and 
winding  and  some  are  built  over,  so  that  going  through 
them  is  like  passing  through  tunnels  or  subterranean 
caves. 

Indeed,  Jerusalem  is  a  city  of  cave  dwellers.  Many 
of  the  stores  and  houses  are  little  more  than  holes  in 
the  rocks.  I  visited  a  native  inn  yesterday  right  in  the 
heart  of  the  town.  It  consisted  of  a  series  of  vaulted 
chambers  which  looked  much  like  caves.  In  one  cave 
were  four  donkeys,  two  camels,  and  a  party  of  Bedouins. 
In  another  were  a  dozen  Jews  from  Samaria,  and  in  a 
third  were  some  men  and  camels  who  had  just  come 
from  beyond  the  Jordan.  The  only  sign  of  modern 
times  was  an  English  lamp  burning  American  kerosene 
oil.  Through  my  guide  I  chatted  with  the  keeper  of  the 
stable,  or  inn,  as  it  was  called,  and  he  told  me  that  his 
charge  for  feeding  and  washing  a  donkey  or  a  horse  was 
five  cents  a  day. 

Jerusalem  of  to-day  is  founded  upon  the  remams  of 
the  Jerusalems  of  the  past,  and  the  excavations  have  un- 
earthed houses  and  temples  far  below  the  streets  of  the 
present.     The  original  floor  and  court  of  the  house  in 

38 


JERUSALEM   IN  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 

which  Pontius  Pilate  examined  the  Christ  is  much  lower 
than  the  level  of  the  present  city,  and  mosaics  and  mar- 
bles, including  carvings  of  various  kinds  and  Greek  and 
Roman  capitals  and  columns,  are  frequently  uncovered 
in  digging  the  foundations  for  new  buildings. 

There  are  many  caves  outside  of  Jerusalem  and  people 
live  in  some  of  them.  The  tombs  of  the  kings  on  the  edge 
of  the  city  have  been  cut  out  of  the  solid  rock,  and  some 
of  them  are  so  large  that  a  city  house  could  be  dropped 
into  one  and  not  touch  the  walls.  An  excavation  of  the 
Pool  of  Bethesda  has  shown  that  it  is  eighty  feet  deep 
and  covers  nearly  an  acre.  Right  under  the  temple 
platform  are  enormous  caverns  known  as  Solomon's 
Stables,  and  near  by  there  is  a  space  honeycombed  with 
vast  tanks  which  will  hold  millions  of  gallons  of  water. 

All  of  the  water  for  the  Holy  City  comes  down  in  rain, 
and  the  trees  and  gardens  of  the  town  can  be  numbered 
on  your  fingers.  The  surrounding  hills  are  almost  as 
barren  as  some  of  the  rocky  slopes  of  New  England,  and 
the  only  foliage  visible  is  the  dark  silvery  green  of  the 
orchards  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  and  along  the  hills  be- 
tween Jaffa  and  Bethlehem.  The  only  grass  to  be  seen 
is  an  acre  or  so  of  common  inside  the  walls  of  the  temple 
plateau,  and  here  and  there  a  house  top,  which  by  age  has 
gathered  a  coating  of  dirt  from  the  dust  of  the  city,  and 
on  which  the  green  grass  has  sprouted.  Occasionally  I 
see  ruined  arches,  too  dangerous  to  be  inhabited  by  the 
bees  of  this  human  hive,  on  which  grow  moss  and  grass. 
There  is  one  green  bushy  tree  at  the  base  of  Mount  Cal- 
vary, and  a  solitary  palm  beside  the  business  street 
named  after  King  David  looks  out  over  the  city.  Jeru- 
salem is  not  an  attractive  looking  town,  and  the  glare 

39 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

from  its  cream-white  buildings  lying  under  the  rays  of 
this  tropical  sun  makes  my  eyes  sore. 

Jerusalem  is  the  Mecca  of  millions  of  souls.  It  is  to 
hundreds  of  millions  the  holiest  spot  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  Everywhere  buildings  have  gone  up  both  to  ac- 
commodate pilgrims  and  to  mark  the  most  sacred  places. 
On  the  very  top  of  the  Mount  of  Olives  a  great  Russian 
church  lifts  its  swelling  domes  toward  heaven.  In  the 
Garden  of  Gethsemane,  where  Christ  spent  that  night  of 
"agony  and  bloody  sweat"  before  His  crucifixion,  there 
is  a  resting  place  for  pilgrims.  The  Roman  Catholics 
have  fifteen  hundred  brothers  and  sisters  in  their  mon- 
asteries and  convents,  while  the  old  Armenian  church 
can  accommodate  a  hundred  and  eighty  monks  and  two 
thousand  pilgrims.  There  are  Greek  Christians  here  by 
the  thousands  and  Egyptian  Copts  by  the  hundreds. 
There  are  Abyssinian  priests  with  faces  as  black  as  your 
hat.  Indeed,  among  the  worshippers  who  gather  around 
the  Holy  Sepulchre  you  may  see  every  costume  and  hear 
every  language.  Furthermore,  the  Jews  are  fast  coming 
back  into  Palestine,  and  Jerusalem  is  again  becoming  a 
city  of  the  Children  of  Israel. 

But  let  us  come  down  from  our  housetop  and  take  a 
walk  through  the  crowd.  We  are  at  the  Jaffa  Gate,  which 
leads  to  the  railroad  station  a  half  mile  from  the  walls. 
It  is  also  at  the  end  of  the  roads  to  Bethlehem,  Hebron, 
and  Jaffa,  and  is  the  main  business  gate  of  the  city.  It 
is  always  thronged,  and  the  people  who  go  in  and  out 
come  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  They  are  of  all  colours — 
blacks,  browns,  yellows,  and  whites — and  number  a  dozen 
different  nationalities  from  the  near-by  parts  of  Asia, 
Europe,  and  Africa.     Here  comes  a  donkey  led  by  a  fat, 

40 


THE    HOLY    LAND   ANO    iVkIA 


JERUSALEM   IN  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 

bare-footed  Turk  in  a  yellow  gown  and  red  turban.  His 
beast  is  loaded  with  wood  which  he  is  bringing  into 
the  city  for  sale.  The  wood  is  the  roots  of  olive  trees 
and  his  donkey  load  is  worth  twenty-five  cents.  He  is 
stopped  by  the  customs  officer  at  the  gate  and  pays  a 
tax  of  three  cents.  Behind  him  comes  a  porter  with  a 
bag  half  as  big  as  a  hogshead  fastened  to  the  small  of  his 
back.  Inside  the  bag  is  a  basket  filled  with  the  flat 
cakes  which  form  the  bread  of  the  city. 

Now  turn  to  the  right  and  look  at  that  Syrian  Bedouin 
riding  a  gray  Arabian  pony.  There  is  a  gun  on  his 
back  and  he  wears  a  black-and-white  woollen  blanket. 
His  head  is  covered  with  a  great  yellow  handkerchief 
bound  about  the  crown  with  two  strands  of  hair  cord  the 
size  of  your  finger.  Sitting  as  straight  as  a  ramrod,  he 
looks  with  fierce  black  eyes  at  the  crowd  about  him.  Be- 
hind him  come  three  camels  laden  with  the  oranges  of 
Jaffa.  Each  beast  has  a  cartload  of  the  great  yellow  balls 
in  the  two  crates  which  hang  over  his  back,  and  he 
grumbles  and  whines  as  his  barefooted  driver  drags  him 
along  by  a  string  tied  to  his  nose. 

As  we  look  we  see  the  figures  of  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments crowding  around  us.  There  are  peasants  who 
might  have  been  among  the  disciples,  and  gray-bearded 
men  who  would  pass  for  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob.  We 
see  boys  with  coats  of  many  colours,  which  remind  us 
of  Joseph,  and  shepherds  driving  sheep  into  market  who 
probably  came  from  the  very  plains  near  Bethlehem 
where  similar  shepherds  were  watching  their  flocks  when 
the  heavenly  host  appeared. 

Let  us  take  a  seat  with  those  Syrians  on  the  porch  of 
the   coffee   house    outside  the   gate   and   make   further 

41 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

sketches  of  those  who  go  in.  Here  come  two  figures 
dressed  all  in  white.  They  look  like  walking  bed  ticks 
bound  around  at  the  middle,  or,  better,  like  the  ghosts  of 
a  sheet  and  pillow  case  party.  They  are  Mohammedan 
women,  and  it  is  against  their  ironclad  custom  for  them 
to  go  out  unveiled.  They  have  wrapped  their  bodies  in 
sheets  the  folds  of  which  they  hold  close  together  over 
their  faces,  leaving  only  a  crack  by  which  they  may  see 
to  pick  their  way  through  the  crowd. 

Behind  them  is  a  girl  with  bare  face.  She  wears  a 
round  cap  which  extends  a  foot  above  her  rosy  brown 
forehead,  and  she  has  a  headdress  of  white  cotton.  Her 
gown  is  a  gray  chemise  which  falls  almost  to  her  feet, 
and  which  has  a  wide  hem  of  red  and  blue  silk  embroid- 
ery. She  is  a  Bethlehem  maiden  wearing  the  shawl 
made  with  her  own  hands  for  her  wedding.  Such  shawls 
are  much  prized  by  tourists,  and  the  best  of  them  bring 
twenty-five  dollars  apiece  in  the  stores. 

But  here  are  some  women  in  long  coats  and  high 
boots.  They  have  calico  gowns  under  their  coats  which 
reach  half  way  down  the  calf.  Their  heads  are  covered 
with  handkerchiefs,  and  their  faces  are  bronzed  by  the 
sun.  Each  has  a  staff  in  her  hand  and  a  bag  on  her 
back,  and  is  marching  along  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  an 
hour.  They  are  dusty  and  dirty,  and  look  weary  and 
worn.  Those  are  peasant  women,  pilgrims  from  Russia, 
who  are  making  their  way  from  shrine  to  shrine.  They 
have  tramped  this  morning  out  to  Bethlehem,  and  to- 
morrow will  probably  be  on  their  way  to  the  Jordan. 

But  let  us  leave  here  and  take  a  walk  about  the  walls 
of  the  Holy  City. 


J2 


CHAPTER  VII 

AROUND  THE  WALLS  OF  THE  HOLY  CITY 

1HAVE  tramped  about  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  on 
foot  and  have  ridden  round  them  upon  donkeys. 
Let  us  make  the  trip  on  foot. 
Some  of  the  walls  which  still  stand  were  laid  up 
by  Solomon,  others  were  erected  by  Herod  the  Great, 
who  built  David's  Tower,  and  others  by  Agrippa  only  a 
few  years  after  Christ's  death. 

We  walk  across  the  road  leading  to  Bethlehem,  down 
which  the  Wise  Men  of  the  East  rode  on  their  way  to  the 
birthplace  of  the  Saviour,  and  picking  our  steps  through 
a  caravan  of  camels  lying  there,  climb  up  the  slope  of 
Mount  Zion.  There  is  a  moat  at  the  foot  of  the  tower 
which  is  one  hundred  feet  wide  and  thirty  feet  deep,  and 
the  wall  rises  perhaps  one  hundred  feet  above  this.  There 
are  olive  trees  between  the  road  and  the  walls,  and  as 
we  go  we  see  ragged  donkeys  feeding  among  them. 

Now  we  have  passed  the  moat  and  come  close  to  the 
wall.  Though  its  lower  portions  are  about  two  thousand 
years  old,  the  stones  are  as  firm  as  when  they  were  laid. 

Going  onward,  we  pass  tower  after  tower  running  fif- 
teen or  twenty  feet  out  from  the  wall  and  rising  five  or 
six  feet  above  it.  These  towers  were  used  for  the  archers 
and  watchmen  stationed  there  on  the  lookout  for  the 
enemy. 

A  little   beyond    David's  Tower,   almost   against   the 

43 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

walls,  is  the  great  church  built  by  the  Germans.  Its 
site  commands  a  view  over  the  whole  of  Jerusalem  and 
was  sold  to  the  Kaiser  of  Germany  by  the  Sultan  of 
Turkey.  A  part  of  the  churchyard  is  the  American 
cemetery,  which  was  sold  by  our  consul.  Its  sale  caused 
great  excitement  among  the  Americans  at  Jerusalem,  and 
the  American  colony  here  protested  against  the  removal 
of  their  dead,  which  they  said  was  done  after  dark. 
The  bodies  were  taken  up  and  carried  to  the  English 
cemetery. 

Continuing  our  walk  we  hug  the  wall  looking  down 
into  the  Valley  of  Hinnom  until  we  come  to  Zion  Gate, 
and  a  little  farther  on  to  the  Dung  Gate.  Below  this  in 
the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat  lies  the  Pool  of  Siloam.  At 
the  Zion  Gate  a  group  of  lepers  are  begging.  They  are 
ragged  and  filthy  and  hold  out  the  stumps  of  their  hands 
asking  for  alms.  On  the  inside  of  this  gate  stood  the 
house  of  Caiaphas,  where  Peter  three  times  denied  that 
he  was  one  of  the  disciples  of  Christ,  before  the  cock 
crowed. 

As  we  go  on  we  see  chickens  scratching  in  the  earth 
outside  the  wall,  and  as  we  look  at  the  gardens  on  the 
slopes  of  Kedron  or  Jehoshaphat  observe  that  the  land  is 
still  rich.  There  are  cows  away  down  in  the  valley  and 
the  bees  are  buzzing  on  the  cacti  and  wild  flowers  on  the 
slopes.  In  some  favoured  spots  the  Holy  Land  is  still 
one  of  milk  and  honey.  The  villages  near  Jerusalem 
have  dairies  which  supply  excellent  butter,  and  the 
honey,  which  is  largely  made  of  orange  blossoms,  is  de- 
licious. It  is  served  every  day  at  all  the  hotels,  usually 
in  the  liquid  form  rather  than  in  the  comb. 

The  slopes  of  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat  are  now  spotted 

44 


The  houses  of  Jerusalem  are  of  limestone  with  flat  roofs  constructed  to 
catch  the  rain  water.     The  better  houses  have  little  domes  on  them 


The  Mount  of  Olives  is  climbed  by  walled  and  winding  roads  and 
marked  with  many  churches  and  chapels.  Here  Jesus  often  walked  with 
His  disciples,  and  here  He  brooded  over  the  city  that  rejected  Him 


The  Holy  City  is  a  beautifullv  framed  picture  when  viewed  from  a 
bell  tower  on  the  Mount  of  Olives.  Across  the  foreground  stretches  the 
wall  of  the  inclosure  of  the  Mosque  of  Omar 


AROUND  THE  WALLS  OF  THE  HOLY  CITY 

with  red.  Thousands  of  poppies  and  anemones  grow 
upon  the  ridges  between  the  gardens,  and  the  peasants 
are  working  the  crops.  They  use  plenty  of  fertilizer  and, 
strange  to  say,  most  of  that  which  comes  from  the  city 
is  taken  out  through  the  Dung  Gate.  It  may  be  from 
this  that  it  got  its  name.  It  is  a  great  square  hole  in 
the  wall  just  large  enough  for  men  and  beasts  to  pass  in 
and  out.  It  is  not  far  from  the  temple  platform  and 
within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  Jews'  wailing  place. 

The  southeastern  corner  of  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and, 
indeed,  a  large  portion  of  the  eastern  walls,  are  a  part  of 
the  plateau  upon  which  Solomon's  Temple  once  stood. 
In  almost  the  middle  of  the  eastern  side  of  the  temple 
is  what  is  known  as  the  Golden  Gate,  through  which 
Christ  is  said  to  have  made  his  entry  into  Jerusalem  on 
Palm  Sunday.  It  has  been  walled  up  and  the  Mohamme- 
dans say  that  it  will  not  be  opened  until  the  Judgment 
Day.  A  little  farther  on,  at  the  corner  of  the  temple, 
is  St.  Stephen's  Gate,  which  some  say  was  the  place 
where  St.  Stephen  was  stoned.  Another  legend  is  that 
the  place  of  the  stoning  was  near  the  Grotto  of  Jeremiah, 
in  Solomon's  quarries,  farther  along  around  the  walls. 
The  tradition  is  that  Stephen  was  here  brought  to  the 
brow  of  the  hill  and  thrown  over  a  precipice.  His  hands 
were  tied,  and  after  he  had  fallen  heavy  blocks  of  stone 
were  rolled  down  upon  him  from  the  brow  of  the  hill. 

The  walls  near  the  Temple  are  among  the  first  that 
were  built.  They  are  in  fine  condition  to-day,  parts  of 
them  having  been  recently  repaired.  The  stones  are  of 
bright  yellow  limestone  laid  in  white  mortar.  Those  at 
the  bottom,  which  were  laid  up  by  Solomon,  are  of 
enormous  size,  one  being  about  fifty  feet  long  and  about 

45 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

fifteen  feet  high  and  evidently  cut  from  the  bed  rock 
upon  which  the  wall  stands. 

Right  at  the  Temple  the  walls  rise  almost  precipi- 
tously from  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  and  I  judge  they 
are  one  hundred  feet  high.  They  are  in  excellent  condi- 
tion throughout.  The  towers  are  almost  perfect,  and, 
although  the  vegetation  is  growing  in  the  cracks,  most 
of  the  masonry  looks  comparatively  new. 

A  curious  feature  of  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  is  a  stone 
block  as  big  around  as  a  flour  barrel  which  juts  out  from 
that  part  above  which  stands  the  Mosque  of  Omar  to  a 
distance  of  perhaps  fifteen  feet.  This  block  or  pillar 
hangs  right  over  the  rocky  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat.  Ac- 
cording to  the  belief  of  the  Moslems,  Mohammed  will 
sit  astride  this  pillar  at  the  Day  of  Judgment,  and  Christ 
will  have  His  seat  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  valley.  There  will  be  a  fine  wire  stretched 
from  the  pillar  across  to  the  mountain,  and  upon  this 
wire  all  mankind  must  walk  on  its  way  to  eternity.  As 
the  people  of  the  various  religions  go  those  who  believe 
in  Mohammedanism  will  be  upheld  by  the  angels  and 
will  reach  safely  the  opposite  side,  whence  they  will 
ascend  into  Heaven.  The  others  will  drop  down  into 
the  valley  and  perish. 

There  are  cemeteries  for  both  the  Jews  and  the  Mo- 
hammedans outside  the  walls  and  not  far  from  the 
Mosque.  The  Mohammedan  cemetery,  which  lies  close  to 
the  walls,  is  just  opposite  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane  and 
includes  the  Place  of  the  Skull  where  General  Gordon 
located  the  site  of  Calvary.  This  site  is  now  surrounded 
by  a  wall  and  fence,  and  Christians  are  not  permitted 
to  enter  it.     Within  it  is  the  grotto  where  Jeremiah  is 

46 


AROUND  THE  WALLS  OF  THE  HOLY  CITY 

said  to  have  written  his  Lamentations,  and  not  far  away, 
near  the  Damascus  Gate,  are  Solomon's  quarries. 

Our  walk  has  brought  us  back  once  more  to  the  Jaffa 
Gate,  where  we  join  a  pilgrim-throng  entering  the  Holy 
City. 


47 


CHAPTER  VIII 

"the  tribes  of  god  go  thither" 

Jerusalem  a  city  is 
Compactly  built  together; 
Unto  this  place  the  tribes  go  up 
The  tribes  of  God  go  thither. 

TH  E  Holy  Land  is  hallowed  ground  for  three  great 
religions  of  the  world.  Jews,  Moslems,  Chris- 
tians— all  of  them  worshippers  of  only  one  god — 
do  reverence  at  its  shrines.  Jerusalem  is  the  pil- 
grimage city  of  the  world.  Sacred  to  the  Christians,  the 
centre  of  Jewish  religious  devotion  and  national  dreams, 
it  is  also  a  second  Mecca  to  the  Mohammedans.  The 
Moslems  locate  the  judgment  seat  upon  the  walls  sur- 
rounding the  Mosque  of  Omar,  which  stands  on  the  site 
of  Solomon's  great  temple.  They  make  their  pilgrimages 
from  all  parts  of  the  Mohammedan  world  to.  worship  at 
this  mosque,  and  prostrate  themselves  before  the  sacred 
rock  within  it  as  they  do  before  the  holy  black  stone  of 
Mecca.  The  prophet  Mohammed  himself  said  that  Je- 
rusalem was  the  holiest  place  in  the  world,  and  that  one 
prayer  here  was  worth  a  thousand  elsewhere. 

The  Christians  of  the  Eastern  churches  are  brought 
up  in  much  the  same  faith.  They  believe  that  the  pray- 
ers said  within  the  walls  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Calvary  have  a  wonder- 
ful efficacy,  and  they  gather  in  Jerusalem  every  Easter 
by  the  tens  of  thousands.     From  the  wilds  of  Abyssinia, 

48 


Outside  of  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  one  often  sees  flocks  of  sheep  being 
driven  in  to  market.  Nearly  every  flock  has  its  goats,  which  are  usually 
black.  Palestinian  shepherds  go  before  their  sheep,  inducing  them  to 
follow  bv  callins  to  them 


Lepers  beg  at  the  gates  of  Jerusalem,  under  the  walls  of  great  stone  blocks 
finely  joined  together 


Down  the  hill  from  under  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  goes  the  road  to  Jaffa  and 
the  sea;  to  the  right  is  the  way  to  Bethlehem 


"THE  TRIBES  OF  GOD  GO  THITHER" 

from  the  flat  plains  of  Egypt,  from  the  mountain  fastnesses 
of  Greece,  and  from  all  over  Russia,  even  to  the  borders 
of  Siberia,  they  come  to  drop  their  tears  upon  the  tomb, 
and  to  live  over  the  terrible  events  of  Passion  Week. 
They  come  from  all  parts  of  Asia  Minor,  and  the  Syrians 
and  the  Armenians  jostle  the  Copts  and  the  Arabians  on 
their  way  to  prayers. 

In  recent  years  Latin  pilgrimages  from  western  Europe 
and  America  have  been  increasing.  Bands  of  Christians 
come  from  Italy,  France,  Spain,  and  the  United  States. 
I  was  in  Jerusalem  when  the  first  pilgrimage  was  made 
by  a  body  of  Christians  from  America  to  the  Holy  City. 
More  than  one  hundred  men  and  women  from  all  sec- 
tions of  the  United  States,  under  the  leadership  of  the 
Bishop  of  Tennessee,  took  part  in  the  Latin  celebrations 
in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

Many  of  these  pilgrims  are  extremely  superstitious. 
Most  of  them  believe  that  every  spot  pointed  out  by  the 
monks  is  the  actual  locality  of  the  event  alleged  to  have 
occurred  there.  They  walk  over  the  Holy  Land  with 
staffs  in  their  hands,  and  kneel  down  and  kiss  the  places 
where  they  believe  Jesus  trod.  They  even  kiss  the  stones 
of  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  forgetting  or  not  knowing 
that  there  have  been  three  or  four  Jerusalems  buried 
below  the  site  of  the  present  one. 

I  have  seen  pilgrims  crawling  on  their  knees  through 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  Creeping  into  the 
vestibule,  they  kiss  the  Stone  of  Unction  upon  which  it 
is  claimed  the  body  of  Christ  was  anointed  for  burial. 

Near  the  Stone  of  Unction  is  the  spot  on  which  it  is 
said  the  Virgin  Mary  stood  while  Christ  was  on  the  cross. 
It  also  is  worn  away  by  kissing.     Going  on  into  the 

49 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

great  rotunda  and  turning  to  the  right  we  reach  a  church 
belonging  to  the  Greeks  at  the  front  of  which  stands  a 
column  as  high  as  a  chair  and  about  as  big,  around  as  a 
four-gallon  crock.  This  is  the  centre  of  the  world,  and 
is  honoured  as  such.  1  saw  Russian  peasant  girls  kissing 
it,  and  farther  on  observed  them  kissing  holy  place  after 
holy  place  until  it.  seemed  to  me  that  their  lips  must  wear 
out.  Kisses  are  pressed  upon  these  spots  by  thousands 
of  mouths  every  day,  and  if  every  lip  leaves  its  mi- 
crobes all  the  diseases  of  the  world  must  be  in  the  bacteria 
here. 

It  is  hard  to  estimate  the  value  of  the  offerings  the 
pilgrims  lay  on  these  shrines.  Those  who  come  are  of 
all  classes,  and  some  bring  the  savings  of  years.  The 
poor  lay  their  pennies  in  the  hands  of  the  priests  and 
drop  them  in  the  slot  boxes  which  may  be  seen  at  al- 
most every  corner.  There  is  much  gold,  and  there  are 
treasures  in  precious  stones.  A  life-sized  image  of  the 
Virgin  Mary  which  I  saw  in  the  Greek  church  was  cov- 
ered with  diamonds.  The  image  was  made  of  wax,  and 
was  dressed  in  satins  and  silks.  Its  face  was  painted. 
An  oval  pearl  as  big  as  the  end  of  my  thumb  hung  on  the 
forehead,  while  on  the  waxen  fingers  were  a  score  or 
more  rings.  Some  of  the  rings  were  set  with  diamonds, 
some  with  sapphires  and  rubies,  and  others  with  opals. 
Opals  in  Palestine  are  looked  upon  as  the  sign  of  good 
luck  and  not  bad,  as  with  us. 

Most  of  the  rings  were  costly  and  each  was  presented 
to  the  Virgin  as  a  love  offering.  On  the  silken  lap  of  the 
image  lay  a  great  golden  heart  as  thick  as  my  fist  and 
about  six  inches  in  width.  It  was  studded  with  emeralds 
and  diamonds.     The  heart  was  a    present   from   Franz 

50 


"THE  TRIBES  OF  GOD  GO  THITHER" 

Josef,  Emperor  of  Austria,  who  made  many  costly 
gifts  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  In  the  grotto 
of  the  Church  of  the  Nativity  at  Bethlehem  is  a  similar 
statue,  even  more  gorgeously  decorated,  although  some 
of  the  jewels  are  said  to  be  paste. 

The  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  is  a  hotbed  of  su- 
perstition. It  is  supposed  to  stand  on  the  spot  where 
Christ  was  crucified.  The  Bible  tells  us  that  this  was 
outside  Jerusalem,  but  the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre  is 
to-day  far  within  the  walls.  This,  however,  is  not  a 
proof  that  the  location  is  incorrect,  for  the  walls  of  Je- 
rusalem have  been  thrown  down  and  rebuilt  again  and 
again,  especially  those  on  Mount  Zion  where  the  great 
church  stands.  The  hill  where  Christ  was  crucified  was 
made  up  of  terraces  of  rock,  and  that  is  the  nature  of  the 
foundation  of  this  church.  The  place  was  located  by 
St.  Helena,  the  mother  of  Constantine  the  Great,  who 
came  here  about  three  hundred  years  after  Christ  died, 
and  found  what  was  said  to  be  the  true  cross  among  the 
rubbish  on  the  side  of  the  hill.  She  had  the  cross  dug 
out  and  carried  to  Constantinople,  whence  later  on  some 
pieces  of  it  were  sent  to  Rome.  One  section  as  long  as 
your  arm  is  said  to  be  in  Jerusalem,  and  there  are  so  many 
other  pieces  scattered  over  the  world  that  I  venture  you 
could  build  a  house  with  them. 

Shortly  after  this  discovery,  a  church  was  erected  on 
the  spot,  and  since  then  others  have  been  built,  de- 
stroyed, and  rebuilt,  until  we  now  have  this  great  edifice 
which  covers,  I  should  say,  an  area  of  several  acres.  It 
is  surmounted  by  a  cross  rising  from  a  dome  as  big  as  that 
of  our  National  Capitol. 

The  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  is  not  beautiful  and  its 

51 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

position  in  the  heart  of  Jerusalem,  surrounded  by  bazaars, 
convents,  monasteries,  and  hotels,  is  by  no  means  im- 
posing. The  front  of  it  is  covered  with  carvings,  some 
of  which  are  from  ancient  temples,  and  over  the  doors 
are  bas-reliefs  of  scenes  from  the  Bible.  One  of  these 
represents  the  raising  of  Lazarus,  with  the  Saviour  standing 
at  the  front  and  Mary  at  His  feet.  At  the  command  of 
Christ,  Lazarus  is  seen  rising  from  the  dead,  while  in  the 
background  are  spectators,  some  of  whom  are  holding  their 
noses  as  an  evidence,  perhaps,  of  the  corruption  which 
had  begun  to  take  place  before  Lazarus  was  brought  to  life. 
Under  the  dome  of  the  church  lies  the  tomb  of  the 
Saviour.  It  is  enclosed  in  a  chapel  of  an  ivory-white  mar- 
ble, which  stands  in  the  centre  of  the  rotunda.  This 
chapel  is  perhaps  twenty  feet  high,  twenty-six  feet  long, 
and  seventeen  feet  wide.  Entering  through  a  door  so 
low  that  you  have  to  stoop  to  go  in,  you  finally  come 
into  a  chamber  six  feet  square  and  lighted  only  by  can- 
dles. This  is  the  alleged  tomb  of  the  Saviour.  Over  it 
is  a  marble  slab  covered  with  glass  to  keep  the  kisses  of 
the  pilgrims  from  wearing  the  stone.  There  are  always 
priests  here,  and  all  who  come  in  are  sprinkled  with  holy 
water.  Every  worshipper  brings  with  him  rosaries, 
beads,  and  holy  pictures  which  are  laid  upon  the  tomb 
to  be  blessed.  I  saw  one  old  woman  totter  in  with  a 
half  bushel  bag  full  of  rosaries  on  her  back;  a  frowsy- 
bearded  man  came  with  her,  bearing  all  he  could  carry. 
Spreading  these  out  on  the  slab,  they  knelt,  while  the 
priest  sprinkled  the  beads  and  gave  them  his  blessing. 
Before  leaving  they  dropped  some  coins  into  his  hand. 
They  were  Russians  and  will  probably  carry  these  ro- 
saries back  home  to  their  friends. 

52 


1  he  modern  American  oil  can  competes  with  the  ancient  water  bottle. 
The  small  boy  scorns,  like  his  father,  to  be  seen  carrying  a  little  water  at 
a  time,  though  he  may  proudly  stagger  along  with  a  heavy  skin  holding 
several  gallons 


These  Russian  pilgrims  carry  their  food  and  cooking  utensils  with 
them.  Undismayed  by  poverty  and  difficulties  they  press  on  upheld  by 
their  unquestioning  faith 


A  donkex'  ambulance  is  provided  in  case  a  pilgrim  falls  ill  on  the  march 
"going  up  to  Jerusalem" 


"THE  TRIBES  OF  GOD  GO  THITHER" 

For  years  more  Russians  have  made  the  pilgrimage 
to  the  Holy  Land  than  almost  any  other  people  on  the 
globe.  Fifty  or  sixty  thousand  of  them  come  here  every 
season.  They  are  brought  in  by  the  shipload  at  Easter 
time  and  during  the  whole  spring  bodies  of  pilgrims  can 
be  seen  going  on  foot  from  shrine  to  shrine  throughout 
Palestine. 

Many  of  the  pilgrims  land  at  Haifa,  the  most  northern 
port  of  the  country.  From  there  they  walk  over  the 
mountains  of  Galilee,  stopping  at  Nazareth  and  then 
going  on  to  Tiberius.  They  stop  and  pray  at  every  holy 
spot  and  often  kiss  the  ground  where  they  think  Jesus 
or  the  saints  have  trod.  From  the  Sea  of  Galilee  they 
make  their  way  back  to  Nazareth,  and  thence  go  across 
the  plain  of  Esdraelon  and  through  Samaria  to  Jerusalem. 
I  have  seen  thousands  of  them  at  Bethlehem  and  have 
met  them  tramping  the  weary  road  to  the  Dead  Sea  and 
the  Jordan. 

These  Russians  belong  to  the  Greek  Church,  which  owns 
most  of  the  monasteries  and  convents  of  this  country,  and 
which  has,  all  told,  property  amounting  to  millions, 
including  some  of  the  best  real  estate  in  Jerusalem. 
It  has  a  great  hospice  outside  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  as 
well  as  a  magnificent  church  on  top  of  the  Mount  of 
Olives.  It  has  other  similar  institutions  elsewhere,  and 
is  a  great  factor  in  the  religious  life  of  the  Holy  Land. 

The  Russians  have  here  what  is  perhaps  the  largest 
hotel  of  the  world.  Ten  thousand  people  can  sleep  there 
in  a  single  night,  and  it  has,  besides,  separate  buildings 
for  families.  It  is  known  as  the  Russian  Hospice  and 
lies  at  the  west  outside  the  city  wall.  It  covers  a  space 
of  ten  acres  or  more  and  has  a  high  wall  about  it. 

53 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

Entering  the  gates  of  this  hospice,  one  finds  himself 
surrounded  by  Russians  and  Russian  scenes.  It  is  a 
slice  of  the  land  of  the  White  Bear  dropped  down  in 
Judea.  There  is  nothing  Syrian  in  sight.  The  men  dress 
in  caps,  long  coats,  and  trousers  tucked  into  high  boots. 
They  are  long-bearded,  long-haired,  and  fair-faced.  There 
are  many  red  heads  among  them  and  none  seems  to  know 
of  the  razor.  The  women  are  clad  in  coarse  gowns 
ending  at  six  inches  or  more  from  the  ankle.  Most  of 
them  wear  boots,  but  some  wear  straw  shoes,  and  wrap 
cloths  around  their  legs  in  place  of  stockings.  They  have 
handkerchiefs  tied  about  their  heads,  and  their  features 
are  usually  as  hard  and  rough  as  those  of  the  men. 

But  suppose  we  go  into  the  women's  quarters  of  this 
mighty  hotel.  The  building  is  cut  up  into  stalls  which 
run  from  one  side  of  it  to  the  other.  These  tunnel-like 
rooms  are  lighted  at  the  end,  and  standing  in  a  central 
hall  it  seems  as  though  the  windows  were  at  least  two 
hundred  feet  distant.  Each  vault,  which  is  eight  feet 
wide  and  fifteen  feet  high,  is  filled  from  end  to  end  with 
rough  bunks  of  pine  boards.  Upon  the  boards  is  straw 
matting,  and  a  space  six  feet  square  forms  the  bed  and 
home  of  each  woman.  At  the  back  of  this  she  piles  up 
the  bread,  tea,  and  other  belongings  she  has  brought  with 
her  from  Russia.  She  sleeps  stretched  out  on  the  board 
in  the  clothing  she  wears  in  the  daytime.  The  quarters 
devoted  to  the  men  are  of  similar  nature  while  those  for 
the  families  differ  only  in  that  the  spaces  are  larger. 

These  pilgrims  bring  their  bread  and  tea  with  them 
from  Russia.  In  addition  to  this  they  have  a  few  vege- 
tables which  they  buy  of  the  natives.  They  cook  with 
oil  stoves.     When  on  the  march  each  carries  some  bread 

54 


"THE  TRIBES  OF  GOD  GO  THITHER" 

along  with  her  and  a  pan  out  of  which  to  drink  and  in 
which  to  make  tea. 

In  some  parts  of  the  inclosure  we  can  see  families  at 
their  meals.  The  men,  women,  and  children  sit  on  the 
ground  around  a  pot  of  soup.  Each  has  his  own  piece  of 
bread  and  a  spoon.  They  wash  their  own  clothes,  using 
dishpans  as  tubs.  The  pans  are  as  big  as  a  bicycle 
wheel  and  four  inches  deep.  The  washing  is  done  with 
cold  water,  which  is  free  in  the  hospice,  but  which  outside 
would  cost  two  cents  a  gallon. 

These  Russian  pilgrims  are  very  religious.  They  are 
mostly  poor,  and  many  have  been  saving  a  lifetime  in 
order  that  they  might  make  this  tour  to  the  Holy  Land. 
They  undergo  all  sorts  of  hardships  and  spend  their 
time  in  fasting  and  prayer.  They  have  a  church  inside 
the  hospice  where  services  are  held  twice  a  day.  I  have 
attended  the  church  several  times.  It  is  always  full  of 
people  standing  or  kneeling.  They  cross  themselves  again 
and  again  as  the  service  goes  on,  and  now  and  then  get 
down  and  bow  their  heads  to  the  floor.  There  are  simi- 
lar services  in  the  other  Greek  churches.  I  attended  one 
on  the  Mount  of  Olives  where  the  reading  of  the  Scrip- 
tures and  the  singing  were  done  by  Russian  nuns  dressed 
in  black  with  stove-pipe  hats  without  brims  crowning 
their  heads.  The  hats  ended  in  a  cape  or  veil  which  fell 
down  the  back.  The  faces  of  the  nuns  were  uncovered 
and  spiritual  looking.  Their  singing  was  exceedingly 
sweet,  and  the  service  was  impressive.  The  pilgrims 
who  listened  knelt  and  now  and  then  kissed  the  bare 
floor. 

At  Easter  time  the  water  of  the  River  Jordan  is  blessed 
by  the  high  priest  of  the  Church,  and  there  are  many  priests 

55 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

to  baptize  the  Faithful  in  the  sacred  river.  The  women 
and  men  dress  in  white  garments  and  go  into  the  water 
together.  They  change  their  clothes  on  the  shore.  The 
garments  they  wear  in  the  water  are  usually  shrouds, 
which  they  have  brought  from  home  with  them  for  this 
purpose,  and  which  they  intend  to  take  back  to  be  used 
at  their  burials. 

The  scenes  of  these  baptisms  make  one  think  of  a 
picnic.  The  men,  women,  and  children  rush  about,  some 
laughing  and  screaming,  and  others  quietly  talking.  The 
priests  dip  each  three  times  in  the  Jordan,  giving  their 
blessing  as  they  do  so.  After  baptism  some  soak  other 
shrouds  in  the  river  to  consecrate  them  that  they  may 
carry  them  home  to  their  friends.  They  also  drink  of 
the  dirty  water  and  bottle  it  up  to  take  home.  Some  of 
the  pilgrims  are  old  and  have  to  be  lifted  in  and  out  of 
the  river.  The  current  is  swift,  and  frequently  men  are 
drowned. 


56 


CHAPTER  IX 

ON  THE    SITE   OF    SOLOMON's  TEMPLE 

I  WANT  to  take  you  this  morning  to  the  summit  of 
Mount  Moriah  and  show  you  the  site  of  Solomon's 
Temple.  It  is  on  the  same  spot  where  Abraham,  at 
the  command  of  the  Lord,  was  about  to  sacrifice  his 
only  son,  Isaac,  when  he  was  told  to  desist  and  shown 
the  ram  with  its  horns  caught  in  the  thicket  behind 
him.  It  is  the  place  where  the  wisdom  of  the  boy  Christ 
astonished  the  wise  men;  where  David,  Solomon,  and 
Elijah  used  to  pray,  and  where,  according  to  the  Mo- 
hammedans, the  blast  of  the  trumpet  will  sound  forth 
at  the  Day  of  Judgment.  The  spot  is  sacred  to  both 
Christians  and  Moslems.  Indeed,  it  may  be  called  the 
holiest  on  the  face  of  the  globe. 

The  geologists  say  that  Mount  Moriah  is  one  of  the 
two  oldest  parts  of  the  world,  the  other  being  Mount 
Sinai,  upon  which  Moses  received  the  Ten  Command- 
ments. They  prove  this  by  the  rocks,  saying  that  when 
the  world  was  thrown  off  by  the  sun  and  floated  about 
in  its  nebulous  state  through  the  air  the  parts  which 
first  solidified  were  the  summit  of  Sinai  and  the  rock  which 
now  stands  inside  the  mosque  on  the  top  of  Moriah. 
There  is  also  a  Jewish  tradition  that  as  the  Lord  saw  the 
solid  earth  rising  out  of  chaos  He  blessed  these  two 
spots  and  said: 

"They  shall  be  great  in  the  history  of  the  human 

57 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

race,  which  I  shall  create,  and  upon  one  of  them  shall 
my  holy  city  be  built." 

Mount  Moriah  is  on  the  eastern  edge  of  Jerusalem 
proper.  It  is  just  opposite  the  Mount  of  Olives  and 
above  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane  across  the  Valley  of 
Jehoshaphat.  Its  top  is  a  plateau  containing  thirty-five 
acres,  or  about  one  seventh  of  the  whole  of  Jerusalem, 
inside  the  walls.  The  walls  partially  bound  this  plateau, 
and  in  them  at  the  northeast  corner  of  the  city  is  the  gate 
through  which  St.  Stephen  is  said  to  have  passed  when 
he  was  stoned  to  death  by  the  Jews.  Across  from  the 
plateau  and  far  down  below  it  is  the  Jews'  wailing 
place.  Hugging  it  on  the  west,  south,  and  north  are 
the  box-shaped  limestone  houses  which  form  the  greater 
part  of  Jerusalem. 

In  going  to  it  we  leave  our  hotel  on  Mount  Zion  and 
make  our  way  down  David  Street  through  a  horde  of 
pilgrims  of  all  colours  and  races.  We  pass  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  go  through  a  bazaar  where  men 
and  women,  sitting  on  the  ground,  are  selling  glass  brace- 
lets and  beads  from  Hebron,  past  shops  selling  candles 
to  be  burnt  at  the  tomb  of  our  Saviour,  and  on  through  a 
vaulted  tunnel-like  street  which  was  once  the  cotton 
bazaar,  but  which  now  sells  everything  else.  Ascending 
a  stairway  at  the  end  of  this  tunnel,  we  find  ourselves 
on  the  plateau  now  occupied  by  the  Mosque  of  Omar, 
but  formerly  the  site  of  the  Temple  of  Solomon. 

This  plateau  rises  in  terraces.  We  come  first  on  to  the 
level,  which  was  known  as  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles, 
and  was  open  to  Jew  and  Gentile  alike.  From  this  we 
go  up  to  the  Court  of  the  Israelites  and  then  to  the  Court 
of  the  Priests,  which  is  now  under  the  great  Mosque  of 

58 


ON  THE  SITE  OF  SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE 

Omar.  In  the  latter  court  stood  the  open-air  altar  for 
burnt  offerings,  the  very  rock  upon  which  Abraham  tied 
Isaac  when  he  was  about  to  sacrifice  him  in  obedience 
to  the  Lord's  command. 

The  great  flat  rock  on  the  summit  of  Mount  Moriah 
over  which  the  dome  of  the  Mosque  of  Omar  now  rises 
was  the  ancient  threshing-floor  of  Oman  the  Jebusite. 
In  many  parts  of  Palestine  to-day  a  flat  rock  or  a  hard 
piece  of  ground  is  selected  as  a  threshing-floor  upon  which 
the  ripe  grain  is  laid  down  to  be  trodden  out  by  cattle 
or  mules.  David  purchased  this  particular  floor  from 
Oman  as  an  offering  to  the  Lord  so  that  the  people 
might  be  freed  from  a  terrible  pestilence  then  raging  in 
Jerusalem.  The  Bible  account  continues:  "Then  David 
said,  This  is  the  house  of  the  Lord  God  and  this  is  the 
altar  of  the  burnt  offering  for  Israel."  And  right  away 
he  began  preparations  for  the  temple  which  was  actually 
built  on  this  spot  by  his  son  Solomon. 

The  Moslems  have  their  own  tradition  regarding  this 
rock.  Since  ancient  times  it  has  been  the  custom  in  the 
Holy  Land  to  bring  the  harvested  grain  to  the  commun- 
ity threshing-floor,  which  is  soon  walled  with  toppling 
piles  of  sheaves,  each  pile  belonging  to  a  different  farmer. 
The  owners  of  the  wheat  sleep  on  the  threshing-floor  at 
night  so  as  to  keep  watch  over  their  property.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Mohammedan  story,  two  brothers,  one 
married,  the  other  a  bachelor,  lay  down  to  sleep  beside 
their  respective  piles.  The  married  brother,  waking  in 
the  night,  began  to  think  how  much  grain  he  had  and 
then  of  his  brother's  lot  compared  with  his  own. 

''Poor  fellow,"  said  the  married  man,  "he  has  no  wife 
and  children  to  comfort  him  and  make  his  life  happy. 

59 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

To  even  things  up  a  little  I  will  slip  over  and  add  some 
of  my  sheaves  to  his  and  he  will  never  know  I  have 
given  them  to  him." 

This  he  did,  and  then  fell  fast  asleep  again. 

A  little  later  the  bachelor  brother  woke  and  thought 
of  his  great  stacks  of  grain  and  how  he,  being  unmarried, 
needed  so  much  less  than  his  brother. 

"Poor  fellow,"  thought  he,  "1  who  am  free  have  much 
more  than  I  need,  I  will  give  him  some  of  my  grain 
while  he  sleeps,  for  he  would  never  take  it  from  me  if 
he  knew  I  was  giving  it." 

So  he  transferred  a  generous  portion  of  wheat  from 
his  heap  to  his  brother's. 

In  the  morning  both  were  astonished  to  find  their 
piles  exactly  the  same  size  as  they  had  been  the  night 
before.  Then  a  prophet  appeared  to  them  and  told  them 
what  had  passed  in  the  night.  He  said  that  God,  who 
had  seen  and  approved  the  evidences  of  their  brotherly 
kindness,  had  decided  to  make  this  threshing-floor  the 
place  of  prayer  for  the  whole  world. 

Directly  under  the  plateau  on  which  Solomon's  Temple 
stood  is  a  great  catacomb,  which  once  formed  a  part  of 
one  of  the  Jerusalems  of  the  past.  Let  us  first  visit 
these  underground  caves  before  going  into  the  mosque. 
Descending  the  steps,  we  come  into  a  wilderness  of 
vaults  with  roofs  upheld  by  pillars  and  arches  of  stone. 
Some  of  the  stone  blocks  are  of  enormous  size.  I  have 
measured  one  which  is  eight  feet  wide  and  fifteen  feet 
high.  These  stones  are  beautifully  laid.  They  are 
closely  joined  and  show  mechanical  ingenuity  in  their 
construction.  The  pillars  are  about  four  feet  square, 
and  some  of  them  have  holes  bored  through  the  corners. 

60 


6  *-      ':^".*^''^..lt^J* 


^ 


u.«.  u. 


Priests  of  the  Greek  Church  bless  the  waters  of  the  Jordan  at  Easter, 
when  hundreds  of  pilgrims  bathe  in  the  river,  many  of  them  clad  in  their 
burial  shrouds.  Across  the  Jordan  Joshua  led  his  hosts  dry-shod  to  the 
assault  on  Jericho 


Sturdy  character  shows  in  the  faces  of  these  Russian  women,  who 
paticntl>'  trudge  from  shrine  to  shrine.  The  Russians  are  perhaps  the 
most  devout  of  all  the  thousands  of  pilgrims  who  come  to  the  Land  of 
Christ 


ON  THE  SITE  OF  SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE 

It  is  claimed  that  the  vaults  were  constructed  by  Solo- 
mon for  his  stables,  and  that  the  holes  in  the  columns 
were  the  tying  places  for  the  horses.  In  some  of  them 
are  stone  mangers,  which  the  guides  say  were  used  long 
ago.  Others  claim  that  this  stable  story  is  a  fiction, 
and  that  the  excavations  were  made  in  erecting  the 
Temple  and  the  great  columns  put  up  to  sustain  its 
platform.  However  that  may  be,  the  architecture  is 
wonderful  for  that  time,  or,  indeed,  for  our  own.  There 
are  altogether  a  hundred  or  more  vaults,  and  the  mighty 
stones  which  wall  them  are  so  heavy  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  handle  them  nowadays  without  the  use 
of  machinery. 

Since  the  site  of  Solomon's  Temple  is  now  a  Moham- 
medan shrine,  and  under  their  control,  Christians  can- 
not visit  this  place  unless  they  first  obtain  an  official 
permit.  This  I  obtained  through  our  American  consul, 
who  not  only  arranged  for  a  soldier  to  escort  us,  but  sent 
along  his  chief  kavass,  so  that  we  have  two  guards  with 
us  as  we  walk  about.  The  kavass  is  a  sort  of  major- 
domo  of  the  consul.  He  has  two  of  them,  tall,  straight 
Syrians  attired  more  gorgeously  than  Solomon  in  all 
his  glory.  They  wear  vests  covered  with  bands  of  gold 
embroidery,  with  long,  flowing  sleeves  like  those  of  the 
ladies  of  the  Middle  Ages.  They  wear  big,  baggy  trous- 
ers, each  pair  of  which  would  make  two  full  suits  for  a 
fat  man.  They  have  enormous  scimitar-like  swords  at 
their  sides  and  carry  ebony  staffs  as  thick  as  the  handle 
of  a  baseball  bat  topped  with  great  knobs  of  silver  as 
big  as  your  fist.  The  United  States  Government  fur- 
nishes the  outfits,  except  for  the  swords.  Formerly, 
whenever  our  consul  came  out  of  the  cavernous    region 

6i 


IHIi  HOLY   LAND  AND  SYRIA 

of  his  hotel  or  walked  down  the  narrow  stone  stairs  of 
his  office,  these  two  gaudy  officials  preceded  him,  making 
the  pavements  ring  with  their  staffs  as  they  cleared  his 
path.  When  he  stepped  across  the  way  to  church, 
though  the  streets  were  deserted  and  a  baby  might  go 
about  without  danger,  a  kavass  always  went  with  him 
and  waited  outside  the  building  until  His  Excellency 
was  ready  to  return.  Such  extreme  pomp  as  this  has, 
however,  begun  to  go  out  of  style,  though  the  consul 
still  has  his  strikingly  garbed  kavasses  to  lend  the  dignity 
expected  of  Uncle  Sam's  representatives. 

The  Mosque  of  Omar  was  supposed  by  the  Crusaders 
to  be  Solomon's  Temple.  This  is  not  so,  of  course,  as 
the  original  building  was  destroyed  long  before  their 
time.  It  is  now  believed  to  have  been  built  by  a  Moslem 
governor  in  the  seventh  century.  But  before  that,  and 
soon  after  Jerusalem  was  destroyed  in  the  first  century 
after  Christ,  the  Roman  Emperor  Hadrian  is  known  to 
have  built  on  this  site  a  temple  to  Jupiter.  It  is  believed 
that  some  of  the  pillars  in  the  present  mosque  came  from  a 
church  erected  on  Mount  Zion  by  the  Christian  Emperor 
Justinian.  The  mosque  is  one  of  the  finest  specimens 
of  Byzantine  architecture. 

Imagine  a  mighty  dome  of  greenish  copper  on  the  top 
of  which  is  a  golden  crescent.  Let  this  be  as  large  as 
or  larger  than  that  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  and 
let  it  rest  upon  a  vast  octagonal  temple  walled  with  tiles 
so  fine  that  any  one  of  them  would  be  prized  as  a  piece 
of  rare  china.  Let  there  be  a  dado  of  marble  below 
the  tiles  and  a  wide  frieze  above  them  inlaid  with  texts 
from  the  Koran  in  Arabic  characters,  and  let  the  whole 
be  entered  by  mighty  doors  over  which  are  beautifully 

62 


ON  THE  SITE  OF  SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE 

carved  arches,  and  you  have  a  faint  idea  of  the  Dome  of 
the  Rock,  another  name  by  which  this  mosque  is  known. 
Here  may  be  seen  striking  evidences  of  the  behef  of 
the  Mohammedans  as  to  Christ  and  the  prophets.  They 
beheve  in  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  class  Jesus  as 
one  of  the  prophets,  although  not  so  high  as  Mohammed. 
Among  the  verses  of  the  Koran  on  the  front  of  the 
mosque  is  one  reading: 

The  Messiah,  Jesus,  is  only  the  son  of  Mary,  the  Ambassador  of 
God,  and  His  word  which  He  deposited  in  Mary.  Beheve,  then,  in 
God  and  His  Ambassador,  and  do  not  maintain  that  in  one  there  are 
three. 

Another  reads: 

Blessings  be  on  me  in  the  day  of  my  birth  and  my  death.  He  ia 
Jesus,  the  Son  of  Mary,  the  word  of  truth,  concerning  whom  some  are 
in  doubt. 

There  are  other  passages  of  the  Koran  which  tell  the 
stories  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  the  Moham- 
medans reverence  this  spot  in  connection  with  them. 

Let  us  take  off  our  shoes  and  go  in.  The  floor  of  the 
mosque  is  holy  ground,  so  none  is  permitted  to  enter 
except  in  his  stockings  or  bare  feet.  The  inside  is  even 
more  beautiful  than  the  outside.  The  walls  and  roofs 
are  a  mass  of  carvings  and  mosaics.  The  mosaic  is 
made  up  of  bits  of  gold  and  glass,  the  latter  of  many 
colours,  all  so  delicately  put  together  that  they  form 
beautiful  pictures.  Each  bit  is  only  as  big  as  the  head 
of  a  nail,  or  smaller,  and  thousands  of  them  are  required 
to  make  a  single  picture.  The  columns  upholding  the 
roof  are  of  marble,  and  the  floor  is  of  marble  carpeted 
with  old  rugs  from  Turkey  and  Persia. 

63 


THE  HOLY   LAND  AND  SYRIA 

Right  in  the  centre  of  the  mosque  is  the  huge  rock 
upon  which  Abraham  built  his  altar  for  Isaac,  and  upon 
which  Oman's  cattle  threshed  his  grain,  and  where,  the 
Mohammedans  say,  the  Angel  Gabriel  will  stand  when 
he  blows  the  last  trump  calling  the  people  to  judgment. 
At  that  time,  according  to  Moslem  belief,  the  souls  of  the 
human  race  will  rush  to  this  spot  and  present  themselves 
before  Mohammed  and  Christ,  who  will  pass  on  their 
virtues  and  sins.  After  that  all  must  go  to  the  Pillar  of 
Judgment  and  cross  on  the  wire  rope  to  the  Mount  of 
Olives.  According  to  another  Mohammedan  story,  the 
Moslems  will  be  turned  into  fleas,  and  Mohammed  him- 
self into  a  sheep,  in  which  form  he  will  ascend  to  heaven 
with  the  faithful  fleas  in  his  wool. 

The  rock  is  esteemed  sacred  by  every  Mohammedan. 
It  is  surrounded  by  an  iron  stockade  which  none  is  al- 
lowed to  enter.  It  is  about  forty  feet  long  and  sixty 
feet  wide,  and  rises  some  six  feet  out  of  the  floor.  It 
fills  the  whole  inclosure  and  comes  so  close  to  the  fence 
that  one  can  touch  it,  or,  if  he  is  devout,  as  are  most  of 
the  worshippers  we  see  in  the  mosque,  he  can  put  his 
mouth  through  the  bars  and  impress  a  kiss  upon  it. 

As  we  walk  about  the  fence  examining  the  rock  our 
turbaned  guide  shows  us  its  wonders.  "Here,"  says  he, 
pointing  to  a  round  hole  in  one  of  the  sides,  "is  the 
mark  of  Mohammed's  heel.  It  was  from  that  spot  that 
the  holy  Prophet  ascended  to  heaven,  and  as  he  rose  the 
rock  started  to  go  up  with  him  holding  fast  to  his  heel. 
The  Angel  Gabriel  had  to  put  his  hand  upon  it  to  keep 
it  down,  and  here,"  pointing  to  five  curious  marks,  "are 
the  places  where  Gabriel's  fingers  rested  when  he  did  so." 

A  little  farther  on  the  guide  tells  us  that  this  rock  is 

64 


Moslem  pilgrims  pray  at  the  Mosque  of  Omar,  which  occupies  the 
site  of  Solomon's  Temple.  It  is  said  that  no  faithful  Jew  will  enter  its 
inclosure,  for  fear  of  treading  on  the  spot  where  once  was  the  Holy  of 
Holies 


Every  Friday  devout  Jews  weep  under  the  walls  of  the  Mosque  of 

Omar,  mourning  the  loss  of  their  temple.  They  repeat  for  hours  their 

litany:  "For  the  temple  that  is  desolate.     .  .     .     We  sit  in  solitude  and 
mourn" 


ON  THE  SITE  OF  SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE 

the  centre  of  the  earth,  and  that  some  beHeve  it  to  be 
the  gate  of  hell.  He  shows  us  a  plate  of  jasper  as  big 
as  a  checker  board,  in  which  are  three  golden  nails,  saying 
that  the  plate  originally  contained  nineteen  nails  which 
Mohammed  had  driven  into  it.  One  nail  drops  out  at 
the  end  of  each  age  of  the  Moslem  cycle,  and  when  the 
last  nail  is  gone  the  end  of  the  world  will  occur.  The 
guide  offers  to  let  me  pull  out  the  last  three  nails  for  a 
dollar  apiece,  but  I  have  no  desire  to  hasten  the  Judg- 
ment Day,  and  therefore  refuse.  In  that  way  I  save 
the  world. 

"The  devil  got  at  this  plate  one  day,"  so  our  consular 
kavass  tells  me,  "and  was  jerking  out  the  nails  at  a  great 
rate  when  the  Angel  Gabriel  caught  him  and  pulled  him 
away." 

These  stories  are  silly,  but  they  are  only  a  few  of  many 
which  are  told  us  when  we  are  inside  the  mosque.  Never- 
theless, the  average  Mohammedan  of  this  side  of  the  world 
believes  them,  and  we  see  bearded,  gowned,  and  tur- 
baned  men  and  white-sheeted,  veiled  women  praying 
over  these  holy  places.  They  kiss  the  marks  of  Mo- 
hammed's footprints  and  run  their  handkerchiefs  and 
beads  over  the  rock.  They  pray  as  they  do  so,  for  the 
Prophet  said  that  one  prayer  here  is  worth  a  thousand 
uttered  anywhere  else,  and  he  prayed  here  himself. 

The  greatest  interest  of  Mount  Moriah,  however,  arises 
from  the  fact  that  we  know  this  was  the  actual  site  of 
Solomon's  Temple  as  well  as  that  of  the  two  other  Jew- 
ish temples  which  succeeded  it.  The  first  house  of  God 
erected  by  the  Israelites  was  the  Tabernacle.  This  was 
constructed  at  the  direction  of  Moses  just  after  he  had 
received  the  Commandments.     It  is  said  to  have  been 

63 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

just  about  half  the  size  of  the  Temple  of  Solomon,  al- 
though there  are  passages  in  the  Scriptures  which  lead 
us  to  think  the  latter  must  have  been  very  much  larger. 
The  Tabernacle  was  a  movable  building.  It  was  about 
fifty  feet  long  and  sixteen  or  seventeen  feet  wide.  The 
roof  and  walls  were  formed  of  curtains  made  of  linen  or 
wool  beautifully  sewed  and  fastened  in  places  with  gold 
buckles.  There  were  also  curtains  of  goat's  hair  and  of 
ram's  wool  dyed  red.  Some  suppose  the  roof  of  the 
Tabernacle  to  have  been  flat,  and  others  that  it  was 
ridged  like  a  tent,  with  a  cube  inside  about  sixteen  feet 
square,  which  was  the  Holy  of  Holies.  In  the  latter 
were  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  and  the  Tables  of  the  Law. 

Solomon's  Temple  was  planned  by  David,  who  col- 
lected much  of  the  material  used.  Solomon  himself 
made  a  bargain  with  Hiram,  King  of  Tyre,  to  aid  him 
in  supplying  the  timber  and  certain  classes  of  the  me- 
chanics. Hiram  was  a  Phoenician  king  who  lived  up 
the  coast  and  who  controlled  the  forests  of  Lebanon. 
He  gave  Solomon  a  concession  of  certain  tracts  of  cedar 
and  fir,  and  the  Hebrew  king  sent  men  in  parties  of 
ten  thousand  each  to  go  to  the  mountains  and  cut  down 
the  trees.  The  servants  of  Hiram  helped  them,  and 
they  carried  the  lumber  to  the  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean and  floated  it  down  to  Jaflfa,  whence  it  was 
brought  up  to  Jerusalem.  The  Bible  says  that  Solomon 
gave  King  Hiram  every  year  two  thousand  measures  of 
wheat  and  twenty  measures  of  oil  as  his  part  of  the  con- 
tract, and  that  the  two  kings  were  associated  together. 

The  first  temple  was  begun  by  Solomon  more  than 
twenty-nine  hundred  years  ago,  and  it  took  seven  years 
to  build  it.     I   have  translated  some  of  its   dimensions 

66 


ON  THE  SITE  OF  SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE 

into  feet.  The  cubit,  which  was  then  the  unit  of  meas- 
urement, was  as  long  as  the  distance  from  a  man's  elbow 
to  the  tip  of  his  middle  fmger,  and  varied  from  eighteen 
to  twenty-one  inches.  Putting  the  cubit  at  twenty 
inches  the  ground  plan  of  the  Temple  was  sixty-six  feet 
wide  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  feet  long,  and 
according  to  some  statements  its  height  was  fifty  feet, 
although  one  of  the  roofs  rose  eight  feet  and  the  other 
sixteen  above  the  inside  walls.  There  is  another  place 
in  the  Bible  in  which  it  is  stated  that  the  height  of  the 
porch  was  one  hundred  and  twenty  cubits,  which  would 
make  it  two  hundred  feet  high. 

The  Temple  of  Solomon  had  disappeared  long  before 
Christ  was  born.  It  was  destroyed  by  Nebuchadnezzar, 
596  B.  c,  and  a  new  building  was  not  erected  until  the 
Jews  came  back  from  their  captivity  at  Babylon.  This 
was  also  destroyed  many  years  later  and  a  third  and 
last  temple  was  erected  by  Herod  the  Great  eighteen 
years  before  Christ.  In  that  temple  occurred  the  scenes 
of  Christ's  ministry.  It  was  there  that  He  talked  with 
the  priests  as  a  boy  of  twelve,  and  from  there  He  drove 
out  the  money  changers. 

The  Temple  of  Herod  is  said  to  have  been  much  finer 
than  Solomon's.  It  has  been  described  by  Josephus, 
who  probably  had  a  ground  plan  of  the  building  before 
him  when  he  wrote.  He  says  that  the  space  it  covered 
was  about  twice  as  large  as  that  of  the  old  temple.  It 
was  of  much  the  same  style  as  the  Temple  of  Solomon, 
but  its  approaches  were  more  imposing,  and  it  doubtless 
displayed  all  the  architectural  beauties  of  the  time,  which 
was  one  of  magnificent  buildings. 


67 


CHAPTER  X 

JEWS   OF   JERUSALEM 

TH  E  Jews  are  rapidly  coming  into  their  own.  The 
Holy  City  now  contains  some  thirty  thousand  of 
them;  they  form  about  half  of  its  whole  popula- 
tion. They  have  acquired  the  right  to  own 
land  in  Palestine,  and  they  can  come  and  go  as  they 
please.  This  has  not  always  been  the  case.  Jewish  im- 
migration used  to  be  prohibited,  and  such  Jews  as  bought 
real  estate  had  to  purchase  and  hold  it  under  other 
names. 

Until  the  last  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century  the 
Turkish  Government  had  a  rule  that  no  Jew  might  come 
into  Palestine  and  stay  there  longer  than  three  weeks. 
The  restrictions  were  given  up  largely  through  the  ac- 
tivities of  Mr.  Oilman,  a  former  American  consul  to 
Jerusalem.  When  he  came  to  the  Holy  City  it  was 
the  policy  of  the  representatives  of  the  other  foreign 
governments  there  to  aid  the  Turkish  authorities  in  ex- 
pelling immigrant  Jews.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  he 
was  advised  by  the  Sultan's  officials  that  some  American 
Jews  were  overstaying  their  time  in  the  Holy  Land  and 
was  requested  to  direct  them  to  leave.  He  replied  that 
such  action  was  entirely  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  our 
government  which  is  founded  on  religious  toleration  and 
freedom,  and  after  some  negotiations  the  American  Jews 
were   allowed   to   remain.    Soon  after  this  the   British 

68 


Christian  sects  may  quarrel  over  their  holy  places,  Jews  may  clamour 
for  their  national  home  in  Palestine,  while  the  Arabs  proclaim  that  the 
land  is  theirs.  Neither  politics  nor  religion  disturbs  this  maid  of  mod- 
ern Jerusalem 


Snow  is  almost  unknown  in  these  grass-grown  vaulted  streets,  beneath 
which  lie  buried  the  ruins  of  the  Jerusalems  of  the  past.  The  streets 
Christ  trod  are  twenty  to  eighty  feet  below  the  city  of  to-day 


JEWS  OF  JERUSALEM 

consul,  acting  under  instructions  from  the  British 
minister  at  Constantinople,  took  the  same  stand,  and 
the  other  leading  governments  followed  suit.  Seventy- 
five  years  ago  there  were  only  thirty-two  Jewish  families 
in  all  Jerusalem  and  only  three  thousand  in  all  Pales- 
tine. 

Now  there  are  sixty-odd  thousand  in  the  Holy  Land 
and,  as  I  have  said,  Jews  make  up  half  the  population 
of  the  Holy  City.  The  Jews  here  are  now  engaging  in 
trade,  and  already  control  a  large  part  of  the  business 
of  Jerusalem. 

Forty  diflFerent  languages  are  spoken  among  the  Jews 
of  Palestine,  and  there  are  many  who  cannot  understand 
one  another.  In  the  main  there  are  three  separate  classes : 
First  is  the  Ashkenazim,  made  up  of  Jews  from  Russia, 
Poland,  Austria,  and  Germany.  These  people  are  much 
like  the  lower-class  Jews  of  America,  and  their  common 
language  is  Yiddish.  The  second  class  is  the  Sephardim. 
They  are  Spanish  Jews,  descendants  of  those  who  came 
here  centuries  ago.  These  Jews  speak  a  mixture  of 
Spanish  and  Hebrew.  The  third  class  is  the  Eastern 
Jews,  made  up  of  Israelites  from  Syria,  Persia,  Arabia, 
and  Central  Asia.  They  speak  Arabic  and  look  much 
like  Moslems. 

The  American  Jews  are  comparatively  few,  and  it  is 
seldom  that  you  meet  one  born  in  the  United  States. 
Those  who  claim  to  be  American  citizens  are  chiefly 
natives  who  have  gone  to  the  United  States  to  get 
naturalization  papers,  and  then  returned  here  to  live. 
Many  of  them  are  frauds,  and  our  consul  believes  that 
some  of  them  bought  their  naturalization  papers  without 
ever  leaving  Palestine.    American  citizenship  is  an  es- 

69 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

pecially  valuable  badge  of  protection  in  this  part  of  the 
world.     Said  our  consul  to  me: 

"Our  citizenship  has  been  used  to  carry  on  frauds. 
When  I  first  came  here  I  found  it  serving  as  a  cloak  for 
crime.  One  man  who  claimed  to  be  an  American  was 
acting  as  receiver  of  stolen  cattle,  and  selling  them 
openly.  He  carried  on  a  big  business,  and  although  the 
officials  were  aware  of  his  criminal  practices  they  could 
not  arrest  him.  This  was  so  because  of  a  difference  be- 
tween our  government  and  that  of  Turkey. 

"The  treaties  provide  that  the  offences  of  Americans 
against  the  Turks  may  be  punished  only  by  the  American 
consul,  and  we  contended  that  this  gave  us  the  right  of 
trial  in  such  cases.  The  Turkish  Government  contended 
that  all  such  offenders  must  be  tried  in  the  Turkish 
courts,  and  as  neither  government  would  give  in,  it  was 
impossible  to  convict  and  punish  without  bringing  about 
international  complications.  As  soon  as  I  came  I  de- 
cided to  stop  it  and  told  the  man  I  would  arrest  and 
convict  him  by  means  of  American  witnesses.  The  re- 
sult was  that  he  did  not  wait  for  trial,  but  skipped  out 
of  the  country." 

Most  of  the  Jews  here  pride  themselves  on  their  piety. 
They  think  themselves  above  the  Jew  who  has  suffered 
long  contamination  b^  mixing  with  foreigners,  and  some 
of  them  especially  despise  the  American.  Meeting  one 
on  the  street  they  may  slap  him  on  the  stomach  and 
sneeringly  ask  how  much  pork  he  ate  when  he  was  in 
the  United  States,  in  making  this  statement  1  refer  to 
the  fanatics  who  are  composed  more  especially  of  the 
Spaniards  and  the  members  of  the  Ashkenazim.  These 
people  have  inner  circles  of  religious  aristocracy,  some 

70 


JEWS  OF  JERUSALEM 

of  whom  are  supposed  to  have  magic  powers  of  healing. 
Among  them  are  many  men  of  education  and  culture, 
men  who  know  the  Bible  from  beginning  to  end,  and  who 
speak  several  languages.  One  can  tell  nothing  of  the 
culture  of  the  Jerusalem  Jew  by  his  dress,  for  a  dirty, 
ragged  old  man  is  often  a  great  scholar. 

The  dress  here  is  about  the  same  among  all  classes 
of  the  Israelites.  The  boys  and  the  men  wear  coats  with- 
out belts  which  reach  from  the  neck  to  the  feet.  They 
are  full,  and  are  slightly  open  at  the  front,  showing  gowns 
under  them.  Many  of  the  Spanish  Jews  wear  black  tur- 
bans or  velvet  caps  with  a  wide  fringe  of  fur  outside. 
Some  wear  broad-brimmed  felt  hats  which  come  far 
down  over  the  forehead,  half  hiding  the  ears.  They  do 
not  shave,  for  a  long  beard  is  a  sign  of  wisdom,  dignity, 
and  piety.  They  wear  the  hair  long,  with  a  curly  lock 
on  each  side  of  the  face,  in  front  of  the  ears.  These 
locks  often  reach  down  to  the  breast,  and  are  allowed 
to  grow,  according  to  a  saying  in  Scriptures,  which  reads, 
"Thou  must  not  mar  the  corners  of  thy  beard." 

Many  of  the  Jews  never  cut  the  hair  in  front  of  the 
ears  for  fear  of  touching  the  beard,  and  I  see  boys  with 
the  rest  of  the  head  shaved  and  these  two  earlocks  left. 

These  Jerusalem  Jews  have  fine  faces.  Many  of  them 
have  high  foreheads,  strong  noses  and  mouths,  and 
beautiful  eyes.  Some  are  fair  and  others  have  olive 
complexions.  Their  hair  is  of  all  colours  from  jet  black 
to  blond  and  fiery  red,  and  there  are  many  old  men 
with  beards  of  silver. 

Indeed  many  of  the  Jews  of  the  Holy  City  are  old 
men  and  old  women  who  have  come  here  to  die.  Je- 
rusalem is  to  many  of  the  Jews  what  Benares  is  to  the 

71 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

Hindu.  They  have  a  superstition  that  this  city  is  on  the 
direct  road  to  heaven  and  that  they  must  come  here  in 
order  to  attain  paradise.  I  am  told  that  many  of  the 
Jews  of  this  city  believe  that  if  they  should  die  in  other 
lands  they  will  be  dragged  under  the  earth  through 
the  globe  to  the  Mount  of  Olives,  where  the  Resurrection 
is  to  take  place.  The  Jewish  cemetery  on  the  side  of 
the  mountain  contains  thousands  of  tombs.  It  is  said 
that  soil  from  that  spot  is  sent  all  over  the  world  to  be 
put  in  Jewish  coffms.  Not  a  few  of  the  old  men  who  live 
here  have  left  their  business  to  come.  Some  have  given 
their  estates  to  their  sons  and  relatives,  and  receive  al- 
lowances from  them.  Not  long  ago  one  such  came  to 
the  American  consul,  and  said  that  he  would  like  to 
leave  some  money  to  found  a  synagogue  in  Jerusalem. 
He  looked  dirty  and  ragged,  and  the  consul  asked  what 
he  had  to  leave.  He  replied  that  he  owned  under  other 
names  six  good  houses  in  Jerusalem  and  that  the  money 
to  buy  them  had  been  saved  out  of  an  allowance  of  a 
thousand  dollars  a  year  which  his  sons  in  New  York 
had  been  sending  him. 

The  Jews  of  Jerusalem  are  far  more  particular  as  to 
the  observances  of  their  religion  than  the  Jews  of  America. 
There  are  more  than  one  hundred  synagogues  in  this 
city,  in  all  of  which  worship  is  held  on  the  Sabbath.  I 
have  attended  many  of  the  services  and  have  generally 
found  the  synagogues  full.  The  men  read  Hebrew 
aloud.  They  come  in  their  best  clothing,  and  some  of 
the  old  men  are  gorgeous  in  their  rich  gowns  of  velvet 
and  silk. 

The  Sabbath  here  begins  Friday  night  and  does  not 
end  until  six  o'clock  Saturday.     It  begins  just  as  soon 

72 


JEWS  OF  JERUSALEM 

as  the  stars  can  be  seen  Friday,  after  which  no  work  of 
any  kind  must  be  done.  Neither  fire  nor  lamp  may  be 
hghted,  so  most  of  the  people  light  their  lamps  before 
the  dark  comes  and  hire  Gentiles  to  come  in  at  bed- 
time to  blow  them  out.  The  meals  for  the  Sabbath  are 
all  cooked  beforehand,  and  if  there  are  any  hot  dishes 
they  must  be  cooked  by  the  Gentiles. 

The  orthodox  Jew  here  will  not  carry  a  bucket,  an 
umbrella,  or  even  a  baby  on  the  Sabbath  day.  I  have 
just  heard  of  a  boy  who  was  given  a  new  suit  of  clothes  on 
Saturday,  his  Sabbath.  The  gift  was  made  by  one  of  the 
American  colony  outside  the  walls,  and  the  people  there 
watched  to  see  how  the  boy  could  stick  to  his  religion 
and  still  carry  his  new  clothes  home.  After  pondering 
some  time,  he  finally  put  the  clothes  on  and  wore  them, 
thus  escaping  the  sin  of  carrying  them  on  God's  holy  day. 

The  Jews  here  have  a  slaughter  house  of  their  own. 
Indeed,  they  kill  all  of  the  cattle  of  Jerusalem,  serving 
the  Gentiles  free  of  charge,  in  order  that  there  may  be 
no  danger  of  sinning  by  eating  animals  improperly 
killed.  The  city  abattoirs  are  on  the  road  to  Jericho 
across  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  on  the  southern  slope  of 
the  Mount  of  Olives.  The  cattle  and  sheep  are  brought 
there  and  passed  upon  by  the  Jewish  rabbis.  They  are 
then  killed  and  skinned  according  to  the  Mosaic  law,  and 
the  meat  is  stamped  by  the  rabbis  before  it  is  ofi"ered  for 
sale  in  the  cities.  A  special  stamp  is  placed  on  all  that 
supplied  to  the  Jews,  and  such  meat,  strange  to  say, 
brings  about  twice  as  much  per  pound  as  that  sold  to  the 
Gentiles. 

If  the  meat  is  good  to  eat  it  is  known  as  kosher.  If 
not  killed  according  to  the  regulations,  it  is  called  tarif, 

73 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

and  no  Jew  will  touch  it.  The  killing  is  done  by  the 
rabbinical  butcher,  who  cuts  the  animal's  throat  with 
one  stroke  of  the  knife,  going  just  deep  enough  not  to 
touch  the  bones.  The  law  provides  not  only  that  the 
meat  must  be  healthy,  but  that  no  bone  must  be  scratched, 
cut,  or  broken,  and  if  the  butcher's  knife  slips  and  cuts 
oflf  a  bit  of  bone,  even  though  it  be  no  thicker  than  a 
sheet  of  paper,  the  whole  carcass  is  regarded  as  bad 
and  fit  only  for  the  Gentiles.  The  Jews  eat  cattle  and 
sheep,  but  they  will  not  touch  the  meat  of  pigs  or  game. 
Said  one  of  the  sportsmen  of  Palestine  to  me : 

"If  the  Jews  ate  game  they  would  clean  out  our  par- 
tridges and  other  birds  in  a  season.  But  as  it  is,  there 
is  always  good  shooting." 

Most  of  the  Jews  here  will  not  eat  the  hind  quarters 
of  any  animal,  and  the  hind  legs  and  loins  are  sold  to 
the  Gentiles.  The  Spanish  Jews  say  that  those  who  eat 
pork  will  be  damned,  but  they  get  around  eating  rump 
steak  by  pulling  out  the  white  sinews  or  scraping  off 
the  red  particles  of  the  meat  and  making  what  we  know 
as  Salisbury  steaks  from  them. 

The  Jewish  quarter  of  Jerusalem  is  confined  to  the 
southeastern  part  of  the  city.  It  is  near  the  great  plat- 
form on  which  Solomon's  Temple  stood  and  inside  the 
Dung  Gate.  It  is  a  dirty,  squalid,  poverty-stricken  sec- 
tion. Many  of  the  Jews  here  are  mendicants,  who  live 
on  the  alms  sent  in  by  the  Jews  from  the  outside.  At 
fixed  hours  of  the  day  bread  is  given  away  at  certain 
places  and  the  people  come  for  it  in  crowds.  There  are 
funds  which  are  supplied  at  regular  intervals  to  those  who 
need  them,  and  much  of  the  population  is  supported  this 
way.    They  might  be  called  educated  paupers.     Many 

74 


JEWS  OF  JERUSALEM 

of  these  people  are  desperately  poor.  I  visited  a  number 
of  the  houses,  finding  family  after  family  each  living  in 
cave-like  rooms  no  larger  than  a  hall  bedroom  and 
lighted  only  by  a  door  at  the  front.  In  such  dwellings 
the  floors  and  walls  are  of  stone,  and  about  the  only  fur- 
niture is  the  beds,  which  are  for  the  grown-ups  only. 
The  children  sleep  on  the  floor.  The  kitchen  is  often  on 
a  porch  outside  the  house,  and  the  water  comes  from  a 
court  in  which  is  a  well  or  cistern.  This  well  may  be 
used  by  a  half-dozen  different  families,  and  its  surround- 
ings are  unsanitary  to  an  extreme. 

On  the  doorposts  of  each  of  these  dwellings,  whether 
it  be  of  one  room  or  more,  is  tacked  up  a  roll  of  white 
parchment  six  inches  long.  This  contains  the  name  of 
Jehovah  and  the  Ten  Commandments.  Every  Jew  here 
wears  the  Commandments  tied  upon  his  arm  under  his 
coat,  and  some  have  phylacteries,  or  strips  of  parchment 
with  texts  upon  them,  about  their  foreheads. 

One  of  the  strangest  sights  of  Jerusalem  is  the  Jews' 
wailing  place,  where  every  Friday  afternoon  and  Saturday 
morning  certain  sects  meet  on  the  outside  of  the  walls 
of  the  Mosque  of  Omar  and  with  their  heads  bent  against 
the  stones  sorrow  over  the  loss  of  Jerusalem  and  pray 
God  to  give  the  land  back  to  His  chosen  people.  This 
custom  has  been  observed  since  the  days  of  the  Middle 
Ages  and  it  is  one  of  the  saddest  of  sights.  I  visited  it 
last  week.  In  a  narrow  alley  surrounded  by  miserable 
houses — on  stone  flags  which  have  been  worn  with  the 
bare  feet  of  thousands  of  Jews — against  a  wall  of  great 
blocks  of  marble  which  reached  for  fifty  or  more  feet 
about  them,  a  line  of  men  in  long  gowns  and  of  women 
with  head  shawls  stood  with  their  heads  bowed,  praying 

75 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

and  weeping.  Many  of  the  men  had  white  beards  and 
the  long  curly  locks  which  fell  down  in  front  of  their 
ears  were  silver.  Others  were  just  in  their  prime.  There 
were  also  young  men  and  young  girls.  Not  a  few  of  the 
male  mourners  wore  European  clothes,  and  I  saw  one 
woman  wailing  in  a  hat  and  gown  of  Parisian  design. 
Most  of  the  women,  however,  were  dressed  in  Jewish 
costume  with  shawls  wrapped  around  their  heads. 

Each  of  the  mourners  had  a  book  in  his  hand  and  read 
the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah,  swaying  back  and  forth  as 
he  did  so.  Now  and  then  the  whole  party  broke  out  into  a 
chant,  a  gray-haired  rabbi  acting  as  leader  and  the  rest 
coming  in  on  the  refrain.  The  substance  of  one  of  the 
chants  was  as  follows: 

O  Lord,  we  pray  thee  have  mercy  on  Zion, 
Gather  the  children  of  Jerusalem  together! 
May  the  kingdom  soon  return  to  Zion! 
Comfort  those  who  mourn  over  Jerusalem, 
And  let  the  branch  of  Jesse  spring  up  in  Zion! 

Still  more  affecting  was  this  one: 

Leader — For  the  palace  that  lies  desolate. 
Response — We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn. 
Leader — For  our  Majesty  that  is  departed. 
Response — We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn. 
Leader — For  the  walls  that  are  destroyed. 
Response — We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn. 
Leader — For  our  great  men  who  lie  dead. 
Response — We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn. 
Leader — For  our  priests  who  have  stumbled. 
Response — We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn. 

The  effect  of  this  chant  cannot  be  appreciated  unless 
you  hear  it.    The  old  men,  the  weeping  women  who  kiss 

76 


Man\"  learned  Jews  come  to  end  their  da\s  in  the  Hol\-  Cit\'.  The 
raggedest  man  may  be  the  greatest  scholar.  Some  of  them  have  returned 
from  America  whence  their  successful  sons  send  funds  for  their  support 
in  the  land  of  their  fathers 


The  Tower  of  David  was  standing  here  when  Christ  walked  in  Zion. 
Jerusalem,  like  other  ancient  cities,  was  surrounded  by  walls  for  its  de- 
fence, with  towers  here  and  there  along  their  course 


JEWS  OF  JERUSALEM 

the  stones  of  the  wall  that  separates  them  from  what  was 
once  the  site  of  Solomon's  Temple,  and  that  is  even  now 
the  holiest  spot  on  the  earth  to  the  Jew,  the  genuine 
feeling  expressed  by  all  and  the  faith  they  show  in 
thus  coming  here  week  after  week  and  year  after  year, 
are  most  wonderfully  impressive.  It  is  indeed  one  of 
the  strange  sights  of  this  strangest  of  cities.  A  nation 
is  mourned  for. 


77 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE    EVIL    EYE 

THE  Evil  Eye  is  abroad  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  a 
glance  from  it  will  bring  you  misfortune.  It  will 
lame  your  horse,  cow,  or  camel,  and  it  may  cause 
your  child  to  sicken  or  die.  It  can  ruin  your 
health  or  your  business,  and  it  may  even  send  your  soul 
to  eternal  damnation.  Those  who  possess  the  evil  eye 
are  devils  incarnate,  but  you  cannot  tell  who  they  are. 
They  go  about  in  the  shape  of  innocent-looking  men, 
women,  and  children,  so  you  will  not  realize  that  their 
spells  have  been  cast  upon  you  until  misfortune  comes. 

The  belief  exists  throughout  Palestine  and  is  common 
all  over  this  part  of  the  world.  Every  house  in  Jerusalem, 
whether  Jew,  Moslem,  or  Christian,  contains  charms  to 
ward  off  such  spells.  Every  man,  woman,  and  child  car- 
ries a  talisman  to  keep  off  the  witches.  Some  of  these 
charms  are  in  the  shape  of  a  hand,  because  of  an  old 
Jewish  saying  that  the  hand  of  God  will  arrest  all  dis- 
asters, and  a  Mohammedan  habit  of  calling  upon  the  hand 
of  Fatima,  the  daughter  of  the  Prophet,  to  guard  the 
Faithful  from  evil.  Silver  hands  are  sold  as  charms,  and 
the  wealthier  classes  wear  hands  of  gold  inside  the  necks 
of  their  gowns.  Every  Jerusalem  house  has  a  painting 
or  carving  of  a  hand  on  its  front  door  to  keep  off  the  evil 
eye;  and  even  in  the  new  houses  which  are  now  going 
up  they  are   putting   hands  over  the  windows  as  well 

78 


THE  EVIL  EYE 

as  at  the  front  doors.  Over  their  doors  hang  bags  of 
charms  containing  an  egg,  a  piece  of  alum,  some  garlic, 
and  a  large  blue  bead. 

Blue  is  believed  to  be  a  colour  which  frightens  the 
devil.  These  people  think  that  anything  blue  will  ward 
off  the  evil  eye,  and  for  this  reason  horses,  donkeys, 
and  camels  have  strings  of  blue  beads  round  their  necks. 
Every  horse  and  donkey  that  I  have  ridden  since  I  set 
foot  in  the  Holy  Land  has  been  decorated  with  beads, 
and  in  a  carriage  trip  that  I  recently  took  across  country, 
changing  my  teams  three  times,  every  horse  we  drove  had 
a  blue  necklace.  One  was  a  three-year-old  colt,  which 
was  lively  and  skittish.  He  wore  several  strands  of 
blue  beads,  each  as  big  as  the  nail  of  my  thumb.  As  he 
jumped  about  he  broke  the  string  and  the  beads  fell  off 
and  were  lost.  The  driver  went  back  to  look  for  them, 
but  hunted  in  vain,  and  was  troubled  during  the  rest  of 
the  day.  When  toward  evening  the  colt  got  a  stone  in 
his  foot  and  went  lame,  he  said  it  was  the  evil  eye,  which 
might  have  been  kept  off  had  the  beads  not  been  lost. 

I  see  many  children  here  wearing  blue  beads,  some  of 
which  are  the  shape  of  an  eye.  There  is  one  special 
kind  made  in  Hebron  which  is  considered  most  effective. 
It  is  a  bead  of  blue  glass  of  the  shape  of  a  hand  with  five 
fingers.  It  is  worn  as  a  charm.  Some  of  the  children 
are  clad  in  blue  gowns  with  white  circles  stamped  on 
them.  Every  store  has  some  blue  inside  it,  and  in  some 
a  silver  hand  is  hung  up  on  the  walls.  Every  bride 
wears  blue  beads  at  her  wedding,  and  in  wedding  pro- 
cessions salt,  rice,  and  sugar  plums  are  thrown  at  the  bride 
and  bridegroom  to  keep  off  the  evil  eye  and  bring  luck. 

I  have  been  warned  that  I  should  always  have  some 

79 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

alum  in  my  pocket,  for  this  is  a  charm  which  will  keep 
away  witches,  it  is  usually  carried  along  with  the  beads. 
Some  beads  are  made  with  a  small  piece  of  alum  inside 
them,  and  people  who  are  ashamed  to  show  their  belief 
in  the  beads  often  carry  alum  in  their  pockets.  If  a 
child  goes  out  without  charms  the  mother  is  greatly 
alarmed,  and  if  she  thinks  that  someone  has  cast  an 
evil  eye  on  it  she  burns  a  bit  of  the  child's  clothes  with 
incense  and  a  small  piece  of  alum.  She  first  prays  over 
the  child,  waving  the  bit  of  stuff  and  the  alum  about  as 
she  does  so.  She  then  throws  the  charm  into  an  open  fire 
and  holds  the  child  over  it.  As  the  alum  burns  it  gives 
off  a  smoke  which  takes  certain  shapes,  and  the  mother 
believes  that  by  looking  at  them  she  can  learn  who  has 
cast  the  evil  eye  on  her  child.  The  same  rite  is  gone 
through  with  by  pretty  girls  who  feel  ill  on  coming  home 
from  a  call.  They  work  this  charm  to  find  out  who  has 
cast  a  spell  on  them. 

One  of  the  commonest  safeguards  against  the  evil  eye 
is  a  text  from  the  Bible  or  the  Koran  such  as:  "Break 
down  the  spell  of  the  Eye";  or  "  By  the  blessings  of  God." 
These  phrases  written  in  Arabic  characters  are  framed 
and  hung  up  in  many  of  the  houses.  They  are  also 
carved  upon  furniture. 

The  Jews  carry  about  texts  of  the  Scriptures.  The 
Christians  have  relics  of  saints,  and  some  of  the  natives 
here  think  they  have  pieces  of  the  true  cross. 

It  is  customary  to  use  the  name  of  God  at  the  begin- 
ning of  every  sentence  which  contains  the  name  of  one's 
friend. 

The  people  of  Palestine  do  not  like  to  hear  themselves 
complimented  unless  at  the  same  time  you  use  the  name 

80 


The  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  is  the  centre  of  superstition  in 
Jerusalem,  where  imagination  sets  the  only  limit  to  stories  told  to  the 
tourists — and  implicitly  believed  by  many  of  them 


The  women  of  the  Holy  Land  are  great  believers  in  the  power  of  the 
Evil  Eye  and  wear  blue  beads  and  other  charms  to  keep  the  spirits  away. 
Bits  of  alum,  which  is  supposed  to  be  especially  effective,  are  often  worn  in 
little  bags  around  the  neck 


THE  EVIL  EYE 

of  God.  Otherwise  they  believe  such  expressions  are 
bound  to  bring  misfortunes  and  possibly  troubles  and 
death.  If  you  call  a  boy  or  a  girl  pretty  its  mother's 
heart  is  filled  with  terror,  and  she  straightway  throws 
out  her  hand,  extending  the  index  and  little  fmger  in  a 
way  supposed  to  ward  off  the  devil  and  to  prevent  the 
evil  consequences  of  your  remark.  If  you  wish  to  praise 
the  beauty  of  a  child  you  must  begin  the  sentence  with, 
"May  God  surround  thee."  After  that  you  may  go  on 
as  you  please.  If  you  pat  the  child  on  the  head  and  fail 
to  use  this  sentence,  the  mother  upon  returning  home 
will  take  the  child  into  a  room  and  put  it  in  the  middle 
of  the  floor.  She  will  then  take  a  shovel  and  gather  some 
dust  from  each  of  the  four  corners,  and  throw  it  into  the 
fire,  crying:  "Fie  on  thee,  evil  eye." 

Similar  precautions  should  be  taken  in  admiring  a 
horse  or  a  donkey,  and  there  are  ways  of  keeping  the  evil 
eye  away  from  them.  If  a  man  has  a  spirited  horse 
which  he  fears  the  people  may  admire,  he  carries  with 
him  some  salt.  As  he  rides  through  the  crowds  he  will 
now  and  then  sprinkle  a  little  salt  under  the  feet  of  the 
horse,  especially  if  he  sees  the  crowd  looking  at  it.  If 
any  one  asks  whether  he  will  sell  the  animal  he  must 
answer  yes,  but  if  asked  what  he  will  take  he  makes  the 
price  so  high  that  the  man  cannot  buy.  At  such  times 
he  usually  requests  the  would-be  purchaser  to  stop  think- 
ing of  his  horse  for  fear  it  may  bring  misfortune. 

Another  superstition  regarding  salt  relates  to  babies  at 
birth.  It  is  sprinkled  over  their  bodies  to  keep  off  the 
devil,  and  is  used  at  all  other  ceremonies  connected  with 
children. 

The  power  of  the  evil  eye  is  also  possessed  by  spirits 

8i 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

who  inhabit  human  beings.  The  people  here  believe  in 
one  class  of  spirits  who  live  underground  but  who  are 
fed  by  those  on  earth.  They  are  said  to  come  up  and 
take  the  wheat  from  the  threshing-floors  and  the  bread 
from  the  ovens,  and  the  only  way  to  keep  them  from 
doing  so  is  to  utter  a  sentence  from  the  Koran  or  Bible 
as  you  put  the  bread  in  to  bake,  or  spread  out  the  grain. 
These  same  spirits  hover  about  the  fire,  and  if  you  quench 
it  without  asking  Mohammed  to  protect  you  the  spirits 
are  liable  to  beat  you  or  perhaps  lame  you  for  life. 

These  underground  spirits  are  known  as  the  jinn.  Their 
favourite  place  of  residence  is  below  the  front  doorsteps, 
for  which  reason  women  are  not  allowed  to  sit  there. 
The  jinn,  or  genii,  are  supposed  to  be  an  organized  body, 
having  a  sultan,  a  court,  and  regular  oificials.  They 
keep  guard  on  the  food  stores  and  are  on  the  whole 
fairly  good  fellows.  They  are  said  to  be  fond  of  human 
company.  It  is  even  whispered  that  they  sometimes  as- 
sume human  shape  and  marry  mortals.  They  are  be- 
lieved to  be  most  common  in  Egypt.  One  may  attract 
a  jinn  by  whistling,  and  it  is  said  that  the  girls  here 
trequently  whistle.  Some  of  the  men  of  Palestine  are 
jealous  of  the  jinn,  thinking  they  have  association  with 
their  wives,  and  some  will  not  look  at  a  real  woman  for 
fear  the  jinn  girls,  who  they  imagine  are  in  love  with  them, 
will  object. 

One  of  the  queer  superstitions  here  in  Jerusalem  is  the 
idea  that  a  marriage  in  a  cemetery  will  propitiate  the 
Lord  and  cause  Him  to  favour  His  people.  This  is  be- 
lieved by  the  native  Jews,  and  several  cemetery  weddings 
have  recently  occurred  on  account  of  the  drought.  Pal- 
estine has  had  no  rain  for  weeks  and  the  crops  are  drying 

82 


THE  EVIL  EYE 

up.  The  people  are  wildly  excited  over  the  prospect. 
There  is  also  an  epidemic  of  infantile  paralysis,  which 
has  been  carrying  off  the  children.  The  people  think 
that  God  is  angry  with  them,  and  perhaps  wroth  because 
the  graveyard  marriages  have  been  too  few.  To  pacify 
Him  they  have  had  weddings  in  the  cemeteries,  though  a 
graveyard  is  considered  a  most  unlucky  place  for  starting 
upon  the  life  matrimonial.  Indeed,  it  so  unlucky  that 
brides  and  grooms  have  to  be  hired  to  get  married  there. 
At  a  marriage  which  took  place  this  week  the  couple 
received  two  hundred  dollars  in  gold,  besides  food  for 
two  years,  as  a  present  for  having  the  ceremony  in  the 
cemetery.  In  this  case  the  groom  was  a  Jew  from 
Yemen,  Arabia,  and  the  bride  a  Jewess  from  Aleppo,  in 
Syria.  The  bride  was  late  coming,  and  the  three  thou- 
sand worshippers  who  had  assembled  to  see  the  ceremony 
had  to  wait  for  two  hours.  She  was  finally  carried  in 
under  a  canopy,  and  took  her  stand  on  one  side  of  an  open 
grave  while  the  bridegroom  stood  on  the  other.  Stand- 
ing thus  they  exchanged  marriage  vows.  Two  more 
cemetery  weddings  are  planned,  but  it  is  difficult  to  get 
willing  couples,  as  such  marriages  are  supposed  to  be 
disastrous.  Nevertheless,  the  charm  seems  to  be  work- 
ing. The  wind  has  changed  since  the  first  ceremony 
took  place,  and  it  may  rain  by  and  by. 


83 


CHAPTER  XII 

EASTER    IN    JERUSALEM 

AT  NO  time  in  the  whole  year  is  the  Holy  City  so 

/\       interesting  as  during  Easter  Week.     Jerusalem 

/    %      seems  always  filled  to  overflowing,  but  during 

«*.       ^    Holy  Week  it  is  crowded  and  jammed  with 

people  for  days  and  nights  on  end  to  a  degree  that  it  is 

impossible  to  describe. 

I  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  here  during  the  most 
remarkable  Easter  that  Jerusalem  ever  had,  when  by  a 
curious  coincidence  the  calendars  of  the  various  sects 
fixed  the  holy  feasts  on  the  same  days,  and  the  Jewish 
Passover  and  the  Mohammedan  festival  of  Nebu  Musa, 
or  the  pilgrimage  from  the  Mosque  of  Omar  to  the  tomb 
of  Moses,  came  during  Easter  Week.  These  celebrations 
packed  the  narrow,  vaulted,  winding  streets  of  Jerusalem 
with  a  jam  of  crushed  and  crushing  humanity.  They 
filled  the  monasteries  which  surround  the  walls  with  tens 
of  thousands  of  pilgrims,  and  clothed  the  Holy  City  in 
a  greater  variety  of  colours  than  were  in  the  coat  which 
Jacob  gave  to  his  favourite  son  Joseph. 

The  walls  of  Jerusalem  enclose  an  area  of  not  more  than 
three  hundred  acres  of  ground,  made  up  of  hill  and  hol- 
low, all  filled  with  the  flat-roofed  box-like  houses.  There 
is  no  regularity  in  the  city.  The  streets  wind  in  and 
out  and  up  and  down,  now  becoming  narrow,  murky 
tunnels,  and  now  roofed  with  the  blue  sky  of  Palestine. 

84 


Grandfather  and  grandson — and  both  are  followers  of  the  ancient 
profession  of  begging.  Under  Turkish  taxation  the  Palestinians  were 
reduced  to  such  dire  poverty  that  asking  alms  is  considered  no  disgrace 


Where  Christ  rested  when  carrying  the  Cross  to  Calvary  pilgrims  now 
stop  to  pray  in  the  Via  Dolorosa 


EASTER  IN  JERUSALEM 

They  are  so  narrow  that  through  most  of  them  no  wheeled 
vehicle  can  go,  and  standing  in  the  middle  of  many  of 
them  you  can  touch  the  walls  on  both  sides  with  your 
outstretched  hands.  It  is  in  such  streets  that  the  thou- 
sands move  to  and  fro  at  Easter. 

I  doubt  whether  there  is  a  town  of  five  hundred  pop- 
ulation in  the  United  States  which  is  built  upon  three 
hundred  acres  of  land.  Here  there  are  over  one  hundred 
times  that  many  people,  and  the  Easter  visitors  swell 
the  number  to  as  many  more.  During  Holy  Week  the 
bulk  of  this  mass  of  humanity  crowds  into  the  section 
of  the  city  surrounding  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepul- 
chre. There  seem  to  be  scores  of  thousands  of  worship- 
pers in  an  area  less  than  that  of  a  city  block,  and  the 
two  or  three  narrow  streets  leading  to  the  sanctuary 
become  so  crowded  that  Moslem  soldiers  must  be  con- 
stantly on  guard  to  keep  them  in  order.  The  gay  col- 
ours of  the  clothes  of  the  Orient  turn  the  streets  into  a 
flowing  mass  of  broken  rainbows,  and  the  jabber  of  a 
score  of  languages  makes  a  noise  quite  as  remarkable  as 
that  heard  at  the  Tower  of  Babel. 

Let  me  show  you  David  Street  as  it  looked  to  me  the 
day  after  Palm  Sunday.  David  Street  is  the  narrow  way 
leading  from  Jaffa  Gate  down  into  the  city.  It  is  about 
ten  feet  wide,  and  we  go  through  it  into  the  Christian 
Street,  which,  by  a  second  turn,  brings  us  to  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  At  the  top  is  the  Tower  of 
David,  a  square  stone  structure  one  hundred  feet  high,  a 
part  of  which  was  in  existence  before  the  Christian  Era. 
In  the  large  square  in  front  of  this  is  the  vegetable  mar- 
ket of  Jerusalem,  where  pedlars  from  Bethlehem  and 
elsewhere   sit   on   the   stones   with   their  baskets   about 

85 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

them.  Standing  with  our  backs  to  the  tower,  as  far  as 
we  can  see,  we  look  upon  a  moving  mass  of  pilgrims 
and  natives  of  all  ages  and  colours  and  costumes. 

Twenty  different  nations  are  represented  in  the  faces 
which  look  toward  us.  Here  is  an  Ethiopian  priest,  in  a 
tall  black  cap  and  a  long  black  gown,  whose  black  eyes 
are  set  in  features  as  shiny  as  oiled  ebony.  He  is  one  of 
the  Abyssinian  fathers  and  has  his  place  in  the  ceremonies 
at  Easter.  That  mahogany-faced  man  in  a  yellow  gown 
is  a  Persian,  and  the  fierce-looking  Ishmaelite  behind 
him,  in  a  blanket  of  black-and-white  stripes,  his  bronzed 
face  crowned  by  a  yellow  silk  handkerchief,  is  a  Bedouin; 
he  is  of  the  Moslem  faith,  and  is  on  his  way  to  wor- 
ship at  the  mosque.  Behind  him  comes  a  woman  in  a 
white  sheet.  Her  features  are  covered  with  a  yellow 
gauze  cloth  with  red  leaves  printed  upon  it;  she  is  the 
wife  of  a  Mohammedan  merchant,  and  her  face  is  not 
to  be  seen  outside  the  harem.  That  slender,  black- 
eyed  girl,  with  the  dark  roses  in  her  cheeks,  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  Polish  Jew.  Her  cap  is  black,  and,  like  all  of 
her  sisters,  she  wears  a  little  silk  flowered  shawl. 

Some  of  the  prettiest  women  in  the  world  are  peddling 
vegetables  about  you.  As  you  note  their  complexions 
you  can  hardly  realize  that  they  live  under  the  fierce 
sun  of  the  tropics.  Their  skins  are  as  fair  as  the  cheeks 
of  the  girls  of  Dublin,  and  their  regular  features  would 
make  them  beauties  in  America.  They  wear  high  caps 
bound  round  with  silver  coins,  row  after  row  rising  up 
from  their  foreheads  against  a  background  of  black 
velvet. 

Here  is  a  crowd  of  Russian  peasants.  The  honest 
bronzed  faces  of  the  women  look  out  under  the  brown 

86 


EASTER  IN  JERUSALEM 

handkerchiefs  tied  about  their  heads  in  place  of  bonnets, 
and  their  short  dresses  of  cheap  cotton  or  wool  come 
half  way  down  over  their  high-topped  boots.  The  men 
have  tall  fur  caps,  and  their  coats  are  made  with  skirts 
as  full  as  the  petticoats  of  the  women.  The  faces  of  both 
sexes  are  strong,  with  honesty  and  industry  showing  in 
every  line.  They  cross  themselves  as  two  Greek  priests 
pass  them. 

Let  us  push  our  way  through  the  crowd.  That  tall 
soldier  in  red  fez  and  European  uniform  breaks  the 
way  for  us.  We  pass  good-natured  Moslems  and  Jews; 
we  are  jostled  by  Bedouin  girls  in  gypsy  dress,  and  by 
Bethlehem  shepherds  clad  in  sheep-skins.  Going  by  the 
market  women  squatting  at  the  turning,  we  follow  the 
crowd  and  pass  on  to  the  entrance  of  one  of  the  tunnel- 
like bazaars.  Leaving  this,  we  turn  into  another  arch 
at  the  right,  and  diving  through  vaulted,  twisting  caves 
of  stores,  we  go  down  some  steps,  past  the  money- 
changers, who  sit  at  the  street  corners  with  little  glass- 
covered  boxes  of  gold  and  silver  coins  before  them. 
Brushing  by  dozens  of  beggars  we  arrive  at  last  in  the 
court  in  front  of  the  great  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
Now  we  are  in  the  heart  of  the  Jerusalem  of  Easter. 

This  court  is  where  the  multitude  stood  to  see  the 
crucifixion  of  our  Lord.  On  the  opposite  side  from  the 
entrance,  in  a  corner  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
is  the  Rock  of  Calvary,  and  the  buildings  which  surround 
it  are  the  convents  and  monasteries  of  the  various  Chris- 
tian sects. 

A  stream  of  worshippers  of  all  nations  passes  contin- 
uously among  the  hordes  of  beggars  and  pedlars  squat- 
ting on   the   stones.     Here   a   young   Syrian   is    selling 

87 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

candles  of  all  kinds  and  sizes,  from  tapers  no  bigger  than 
your  little  finger  to  great  cylinders  as  thick  as  your  arm, 
to  pilgrims  who  go  to  burn  them  before  the  altars  within 
the  sepulchre. 

There  is  a  rosary  pedlar  doing  a  rushing  business. 
She  is  a  Bethlehem  girl  with  two  bushels  of  beads.  They 
are  made  of  olive  wood  and  of  the  pips  of  the  olive  itself, 
as  well  as  of  mother-of-pearl.  All  around  you  are  the 
characters  of  the  Scriptures.  Here  is  a  dark-brown  man 
whose  face  reminds  you  of  that  of  Judas  in  Leonardo  da 
Vinci's  "Last  Supper."  He  is  peddling  little  crosses  of 
mother-of-pearl.  Here  is  a  woman  with  a  face  as  beau- 
tifully sad  as  that  of  Mary  Magdalene,  and  there  is  an 
old  man  selling  pictures  of  the  church  dignitaries,  whose 
patriarchal  beard  and  honest  eyes  make  you  think  of 
Abraham.  There  are  pedlars  of  brass  rings  and  glass 
bracelets  from  Hebron.  The  crier  of  drinks  in  bare  feet 
and  blue  gown,  with  his  skin  water  bottle  on  his  back, 
passes  along  announcing  his  wares  by  clinking  his  two 
brass  drinking-cups  together. 

The  crowd  moves  on  in  a  never-ending  stream  toward 
the  door  of  the  church.  It  is  the  same,  morning  and 
evening,  day  in  and  day  out.  Thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  footsteps  have  worn  the  flag  stones  to  the  smooth- 
ness of  marble,  and  on  and  on  they  come,  year  after  year 
and  generation  after  generation.  We  enter  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  the  church  which  these  people 
believe  covers  the  spot  where  Christ  was  crucified  and 
where  His  tomb  is  kept.  It  is  the  church  that  Constantine 
built,  the  church  for  which  the  Crusaders  fought,  the 
shrine  where  the  religious  of  all  Christendom  would  bow. 

It  is  a  vast  building  of  yellow  limestone  rising  out  of 


EASTER  IN  JERUSALEM 

and  above  a  jumble  of  houses  in  front  of  the  court,  with  a 
dome  a  little  smaller  than  that  of  our  Capitol  at  Wash- 
ington. At  one  side  a  chapel  rises  above  the  other  parts 
of  the  structure  to  the  second  story,  and  the  whole 
stands  upon  hill  and  valley  so  that  the  chapel  rests 
upon  a  rock  high  above  the  level  of  the  ground  floor. 
This  rock  is  supposed  to  be  Calvary,  upon  which  stood  the 
cross  of  Christ.  Around  the  rotunda  extends  a  series  of 
buildings,  consisting  of  gaudily  decorated  churches  and 
chapels  of  a  dozen  different  denominations  and  sects.  A 
wide  vaulted  aisle  runs  around  between  these  and  the 
rotunda  into  which  they  open. 

Entering,  we  go  through  a  high-arched  door  past  a 
ledge  cut  into  the  wall  at  the  right  where  Mohammedan 
officers  smoke  long-stemmed  water-pipes  while  they  sit 
with  their  legs  crossed  and  direct  the  soldiers  posted 
here  to  keep  the  crowds  in  order.  We  go  into  a  great 
square  vestibule  in  the  centre  of  which,  with  rows  of 
immense  candles  at  its  head  and  foot,  there  lies  under  a 
long  row  of  beautiful  brass  lamps  a  rectangular  stone  of 
rose-coloured  marble  about  eight  feet  long  and  four  feet 
wide.  It  is  four  inches  above  the  floor,  and  around  its 
edges  burn  the  wax  tapers  of  worshippers.  This  is  the 
Stone  of  Unction  on  which  it  is  said  the  body  of  the  Lord 
was  laid  when  it  was  anointed  for  burial. 

Pilgrim  after  pilgrim  walks  forward  and  prostrates 
himself  before  it.  Each  one  gets  down  on  his  knees,  and 
bows  his  head  to  the  floor,  then  leans  over  and  kisses  the 
stone.  As  we  come  closer  we  see  that  the  marble  has  been 
worn  rough  by  the  pressure  of  human  lips.  As  we  stand 
and  watch  the  earnest  worshippers  who  pray  before  it, 
we  cannot  but  be  impressed  with  their  faith.     An  old 

89 


THE  HOLY   LAND  AND  SYRIA 

peasant  woman  in  black,  who  trembles  as  she  puts  her 
long  thin  hands  caressingly  on  the  marble,  bends  over  and 
touches  it  again  and  again  with  her  withered  lips.  A 
pretty  boy  of  ten  crosses  himself  and  kneels  beside  his 
Armenian  mother  while  they  go  through  their  devo- 
tions together.  Another  pilgrim  lays  his  beads  on  the 
slab,  that  they  may  be  blessed  by  the  contact,  and  crosses 
himself  as  he  rises.  Now  there  kneels  a  family  of  Greeks, 
the  men  in  the  ballet-girl  costume  of  the  Albanians,  fol- 
lowed by  a  richly  dressed  lady  who  lays  some  cakes  of 
incense  on  the  slab,  and  prays  long  before  it.  Behind 
her  come  two  Russian  women  with  long  strips  of  white 
linen  in  their  hands.  Waiting  until  the  crowd  has  par- 
tially thinned,  they  measure  the  stone  with  this  cloth, 
and  cut  it  into  strips  of  just  the  size  of  the  slab.  They 
rub  these  strips  over  the  stone,  praying  as  they  do  so, 
for  these  are  to  be  their  winding  sheets,  and  they  be- 
lieve that,  buried  in  them,  they  will  rest  more  easily  in 
their  graves.  It  is  difficult  to  appreciate  the  solemnity 
of  the  worship  at   the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

There  is  superstition  mixed  with  earnest,  honest  faith, 
as  is  so  often  the  case  in  the  poor,  weak  human  brain, 
even  in  those  who  lay  claim  to  greater  intellectuality 
than  these  poor  pilgrims. 

These  tens  of  thousands  of  pilgrims  continue  to  pray 
as  they  rise  from  the  Stone  of  Unction,  and  then  with 
bowed  heads  walk  on  into  the  great  rotunda  of  the 
church  itself.  Here  in  the  very  centre  rises  an  oblong 
marble  structure  about  thirty  feet  high,  twenty-five  feet 
long,  and  seventeen  feet  wide.  The  marble  is  yellow 
with  age  and  the  architecture  of  the  building  is  rude 
rather  than  artistic.     This  is  the  tomb  of  Christ.     It  is 

90 


EASTER  IN  JERUSALEM 

more  like  a  chapel  than  a  tomb,  and  its  fronts  and  sides 
are  covered  with  candles.  Curious  brass  lamps,  with 
glass  globes  of  different  colours,  hang  like  a  frieze  around 
its  alabaster  top,  and  between  these  are  oil  paintings  of 
scriptural  scenes.  In  its  front,  in  gold  pillars  as  tall  as 
a  man,  are  columns  of  painted  wax  each  six  inches  thick 
and  twelve  feet  high.  At  the  top  of  each  of  these  a  flame 
trembles. 

At  Easter  there  flows  through  its  low  door  an  endless 
stream  of  humanity.  We  enter  through  a  vestibule  so 
dark  that  we  can  hardly  see  the  features  of  the  people 
around  us,  and  find  the  same  kissing  and  praying  going 
on.  Upon  the  column  of  marble  about  three  feet  high, 
standing  in  the  centre  of  the  vestibule,  thousands  of 
kisses  are  pressed  every  day.  Into  its  top  is  set  a  piece 
of  the  stone  which  was  rolled  from  the  door  of  Christ's 
tomb.  The  stones  walling  the  tomb  are  very  thick,  and 
the  door  is  so  narrow  that  only  one  man  can  enter  it  at 
a  time,  and  so  low  that  even  boys  bow  their  heads  in 
going  in.  The  space  within  is  so  small  that  it  will  hold 
only  four  persons  at  once.  It  is  dimly  lighted  with  can- 
dles, and  a  Greek  priest  in  cap  and  gown  is  always  on 
guard.  At  the  right  of  the  room,  set  into  the  wall,  there 
is  a  marble  slab  of  purest  white  resting  upon  another 
slab  about  four  feet  high  and  forming  a  box  or  ledge. 
This  box  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  sepulchre  of 
Christ,  to  the  people  of  the  Christian  world  the  holiest 
of  the  holy  places  of  the  earth.  The  worshippers  here 
pray  and  drop  their  tears,  and  men  reverently  back  their 
way  out  to  give  place  to  others.  All  of  the  Christian 
sects  claim  a  right  to  the  tomb,  and  it  is  free  of  access 
to  every  denomination. 

91 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

The  chapels  of  the  various  churches  opening  into  the 
rotunda  are  gorgeously  decorated,  and  each  sect  has  some 
relic  of  the  Crucifixion  which  people  consider  their  es- 
pecial charge  and  which  they  guard  with  the  greatest 
reverence.  One  chapel  contains  the  stocks  in  which 
some  of  the  saints  were  imprisoned,  and  the  chapel  of 
the  Syrians  has  the  tomb  of  Nicodemus  and  of  Joseph  of 
Arimathea.  The  Latins  have  the  column  of  the  scourg- 
ing. The  Greeks,  who  have  the  finest  chapel  of  all  those 
surrounding  the  rotunda,  are  first,  both  in  wealth  and 
power,  in  the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre. 

The  Oriental  Christians  are  very  superstitious,  and 
have  implicit  faith  in  all  the  stories  connected  with  the 
Sepulchre.  They  believe  that  the  ceremonies  of  Easter 
carry  with  them  saving  grace,  and  during  this  Holy  Week 
they  are  in  a  state  of  religious  frenzy.  The  officers 
of  the  various  churches  do  all  they  can  to  increase  this 
excitement,  with  the  result  that  there  is  a  series  of  re- 
ligious pageants  in  which  each  patriarch  and  his  bishops 
try  to  outshine  the  other  churches  in  splendour  and 
gorgeous  ceremonials.  The  competition  is  so  great  that 
at  times  the  various  sects  break  out  into  unchristian 
fights,  and  once  there  was  a  riot  in  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
in  which  more  than  three  hundred  pilgrims  were  suf- 
focated or  trampled  to  death. 

During  the  ceremonies  of  Easter,  companies  of  soldiers 
are  stationed  in  the  more  holy  places  of  Jerusalem,  and 
several  companies  surround  the  various  patriarchs  in  their 
church  exercises. 

The  celebrations  begin  with  Palm  Sunday.  The  pa- 
triarchs bless  the  palms  which  are  distributed  by  the 
thousands  to  the  people.     Every  man,  woman,  and  child 

92 


Waiting  for  the  Holy  Fire  to  come  down  from  Heaven,  a  "miracle" 
celebrated  by  the  Greek  Church  during  Easter  Week.  From  the  candle 
mysteriously  lighted  inside  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  others  are 
lighted  in  rapid  succession 


^'1^^'  iSAt 


>/¥^tjS^ 


The  use  of  ladders  to  gather  the  olive  crop  has  replaced  the  old,  waste- 
ful method  of  beating  the  trees  to  shake  off  the  fruit.  The  olive  grows 
best  where  its  roots  can  find  their  way  into  the  crevices  of  a  rock 


EASTER  IN  JERUSALEM 

in  Jerusalem  seems  to  be  waving  palm  branches,  and  the 
court  and  Church  of  the  Sepulchre  are  filled  with  green. 
The  Greek  Patriarch  and  his  bishops  march  three  times 
around  the  grand  aisle  outside  of  the  rotunda  of  the 
church,  bearing  a  cross  of  gold  and  preceded  by  clouds 
of  incense  from  urns  carried  by  the  bishops  in  gorgeous 
white  brocaded  silk  gowns  covered  with  roses  of  red  and 
gold.  In  the  procession  there  are  a  score  or  more  of 
bishops  with  crosses  of  diamonds  six  inches  long  upon 
their  breasts,  and  with  their  long  hair  flowing  from  under 
their  high  caps  and  down  upon  their  shoulders.  The 
Greek  Patriarch,  the  central  figure  of  all  of  these  cele- 
brations and  the  head  of  the  Greek  Church  in  Palestine 
and  Arabia,  carries  the  gold  cross-like  staff  of  his  office. 
He  is  dressed  in  the  most  gorgeous  of  gowns  of  cloth  of 
gold  and  silver,  and  upon  his  handsome  gray  head  is  his 
cap  of  high  place — a  great  dome-like  tiara  of  silver  and 
gold,  fairly  blazing  with  diamonds,  emeralds,  and  rubies, 
each  of  them  worth  a  fortune. 

Every  day  of  Holy  Week  has  its  ceremonies,  and  be- 
tween times  the  pilgrims  visit  the  spots  made  sacred  by 
association  with  Christ's  life  about  Jerusalem.  They 
kiss  the  ground  on  which  Stephen  was  stoned;  they  visit 
the  monastery  which  now  stands  on  the  floor  of  the  house 
of  Pontius  Pilate;  they  pray  before  Christ's  prison, 
and  they  hold  services  all  along  the  Via  Dolorosa,  kneel- 
ing and  praying  at  the  various  stations. 

The  Easter  festival  itself  is  not  so  wonderful  in  com- 
parison with  the  services  of  the  week.  The  day  is  ush- 
ered in  with  the  ringing  of  bells.  The  Russian  pilgrims 
rush  into  each  other's  arms  and  give  the  "kiss  of  peace." 
The  Easter  celebrations  are  more  notable  for  the  display 

93 


THE  HOLY   LAND  AND  SYRIA 

of  fine  vestments  and  gorgeous  plate  than  for  the  excel- 
lence of  the  music  or  unusual  features  in  the  ceremonies. 
The  Latin  churches  hold  their  services  in  front  of  the 
chapel  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  the  Latin  Patriarch  offi- 
ciating. There  is  a  solemn  high  mass  in  front  of  the 
Sepulchre,  and  after  this  the  Patriarch  and  bishops,  fol- 
lowed by  the  crowd  bearing  lighted  candles,  march 
around  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  chanting  and 
offering  up  their  prayers  on  the  spots  made  sacred  by 
their  association  with  the  Saviour's  death  and  burial. 
The  ceremonies  of  the  Greek  Church  come  later,  when 
all  over  the  hills  about  Jerusalem  can  be  heard  the  voices 
of  the  people  and  the  sound  of  the  bells  pealing  forth 
the  song  of  the  risen  Saviour. 


94 


CHAPTER  XIII 

WASHING   THE    FEET   OF   THE    APOSTLES 

TWO  of  the  great  sights  of  Easter  in  Jerusalem  are 
the  foot-washing  on  Holy  Thursday  and  the 
"miracle"  of  the  descent  of  holy  fire  from  heaven 
on  Easter  Eve.  During  my  visits  to  Jerusalem 
I  have  seen  both  ceremonies. 

The  washing  takes  place  in  the  open  air  at  the  door 
of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  The  Greek  Pa- 
triarch washes  the  feet  of  twelve  of  his  bishops  in  com- 
memoration of  the  foot-washing  of  the  apostles  by  Christ 
after  the  Last  Supper. 

By  dawn  of  Holy  Thursday,  at  the  time  I  last  saw  this 
rite,  the  court  was  packed,  and  for  hours  before  the 
ceremony  began  the  streets  were  jammed  with  a  crowd 
of  Mohammedans  and  Christians,  of  Orientals  and  Oc- 
cidentals, such  as  you  will  see  nowhere  else  in  the  world. 
Many  of  the  pilgrims  slept  in  the  court  all  night  in  order 
to  be  sure  of  places.  In  the  centre  of  the  court  stood  an 
oval  rostrum  about  four  feet  above  the  stones.  Around 
its  floor  ran  an  iron  railing  enclosing  a  space  about  eight 
feet  wide  and  twelve  feet  long.  Inside  the  railing  and 
running  around  it  were  seats,  and  at  the  back  a  gold  and 
white  armchair  cushioned  with  red  satin.  This  stage 
was  for  the  ceremony,  and  the  chair  the  throne  of  the 
Patriarch.  The  other  seats  were  for  the  bishops.  Around 
this  platform,  to  keep  back  the  crowd,  was  a  guard  of 

95 


THE  HOLY   LAND  AND  SYRIA 

soldiers,  and  back  of  these,  in  a  solid  mass,  were  the 
people. 

From  my  seat  on  a  housetop  I  looked  with  wonder  at 
the  twenty  thousand  people  below.  The  steps  leading 
to  the  chapel  of  Mount  Calvary  were  filled  with  Mo- 
hammedan women  in  sheet-like  gowns  with  veiled  faces, 
and  every  niche  and  corner  of  the  buildings  surrounding 
the  court  was  covered  by  Greek  men  and  boys  holding 
on  to  the  walls  as  best  they  could.  The  ledges  of  the 
convent  were  filled  with  Syrians,  and  even  the  roof  of 
the  Sepulchre  itself  had  its  coping  of  picturesque  hu- 
manity. 

There  was  a  stir  in  the  crowd.  I  looked  toward  the 
door  of  the  church.  Preceded  by  two  fierce-looking 
Syrian  kavasses  with  swords  at  their  sides  and  carrying 
silver-headed  staffs,  came  the  bishops  and  in  their  midst 
the  stately  figure  of  the  Patriarch  himself.  The  grand 
procession  passed  slowly  and  majestically  through  the 
mass  of  people.  A  wonderful  silence  succeeded  the 
tumult  as  the  bishops  mounted  the  steps  of  the  rostrum. 
The  Patriarch  took  his  seat  on  his  chair  of  state  and 
the  twelve  bishops  arranged  themselves  on  each  side. 
They  were  fine-looking  men,  all  of  them,  with  their  full 
silken  beards  and  their  gorgeous  robes. 

Presently  a  chanting  solo  was  heard  from  the  convent 
on  the  courtyard.  There  against  the  wall  in  an  impro- 
vised pulpit  above  the  heads  of  the  multitude  a  Greek 
priest  in  black  cap  and  gown  stood  with  a  gold-plated 
book  open  on  a  rack  in  front  of  him.  His  chant  con- 
tinued during  the  greater  part  of  the  proceedings.  A 
priest  brought  to  the  rostrum  a  large  golden  pitcher  in 
a  basin  of  gold  as  big  as  a  foot-bath  and  placed  it  in  front 

96 


The  Church  of  the  Pater  Noster,  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  contains  tablets 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  thirty-two  languages 


With  towel  and  basin  the  Greek  Patriarch  washes  the  feet  of  his  twelve 
bishops  each  Easter  Week,  thus  commemorating  Christ's  washing  of  the 
feet  of  His  apostles.  The  bishop  representing  Peter  alwa\s  raises  objec- 
tions, which  the  Patriarch  overrules 


WASHING  THE  FEET  OF  THE  APOSTLES 

of  the  Patriarch.  As  His  Beatitude  and  the  bishops  rose, 
there  was  a  waving  of  the  crosses  formed  of  candles,  a 
passing  of  the  hands  this  way  and  that,  and  a  great 
deal  of  bowing,  which  was  understood  only  by  the  Greeks 
and  the  Russians. 

Then  the  Patriarch  prepared  for  the  washing.  Stand- 
ing in  front  of  his  chair,  he  first  took  off  his  great  dome 
of  a  hat.  As  he  did  so  his  long  gray  locks  fell  down 
almost  to  his  waist  and  his  fair,  open,  dignified  face  shone 
out  under  the  sun.  He  next  laid  off  his  grand  gown; 
piece  by  piece  the  cloth  of  gold  was  removed,  until  at 
last  he  stood  forth  in  a  white  robe  of  the  finest  cream- 
coloured  silk  crepe  bound  round  the  waist  with  a  gold- 
and-white  girdle.  I  n  this  still  grand  attire  personating  the 
Saviour,  he  took  a  long  Turkish  bath  towel  and  twisted 
it  about  his  loins.  Then  stooping  over  he  poured  the 
water  from  the  gold  pitcher  into  the  basin. 

The  twelve  bishops,  in  the  meantime,  were  busy  get- 
ting their  feet  out  of  their  English  congress-gaiters  and 
pulling  off  their  white  cotton  socks  for  the  washing. 
Each  bared  one  foot  and  held  it  out  to  be  washed  as  the 
Patriarch  came  around  with  the  basin.  The  Patriarch 
did  the  washing  very  quickly,  rubbing  each  foot  with 
water  and  drying  it  with  a  towel.  As  he  finished  he  bent 
over  and  kissed  the  foot  he  had  washed  and  then  went 
on  to  the  next.  The  last  bishop  represented  St.  Peter, 
and,  after  the  example  of  Peter  of  the  past,  he  objected 
to  having  his  feet  washed  by  the  Lord;  he  rose  and 
gesticulated  violently.  But  the  Patriarch  opened  the 
Bible  and  read  to  him  the  admonition  of  Christ  to  Peter, 
shaking  his  hand  at  Peter  as  he  did  so.  A  moment  later 
Peter  sat  down  humbly  and  submitted  to  the  washing. 

97 


THE  HOLY   LAND  AND  SYRIA 

At  this  moment  the  bells  of  the  Greek  churches  all 
over  Jerusalem  burst  out  in  a  chorus  of  rejoicing.  The 
preacher  against  the  wall  chanted  louder  than  ever, 
while  the  great  crowd  surged  this  way  and  that  in  their 
efforts  to  get  nearer  the  platform.  The  Patriarch  de- 
scended, the  bishops  followed,  and  in  double  file  they 
marched  out  through  the  crowd,  with  the  kavasses  clear- 
ing the  way.  A  priest  carried  in  front  of  the  Patriarch 
a  vase  of  the  holy  water  in  which  the  feet  were  washed, 
and  into  this  His  Beatitude  dipped  a  great  bouquet  of 
roses  with  which  he  sprinkled  the  water  over  the  crowd. 
The  people  held  up  their  faces  to  catch  the  purifying 
drops  and  rushed  to  the  platform  to  wipe  up  with  their 
handkerchiefs  what  was  spilled  on  the  floor.  Those  who 
succeeded  in  thus  wetting  their  handkerchiefs  then  pressed 
them  over  their  faces. 

The  "miracle"  of  the  holy  fire  also  takes  place  in  the 
church  in  front  of  the  tomb  two  days  after  the  foot- 
washing  ceremony.  The  Latin  churches  have  not  taken 
part  in  it  for  more  than  three  hundred  years.  The 
Roman  Catholics  protest  against  it,  and  it  is  now  managed 
entirely  by  the  Greeks  and  the  other  sects  of  the  Orient. 

The  Greeks  say  that  the  "miracle"  has  been  celebrated 
ever  since  the  days  of  the  apostles.  It  is  mentioned  in 
theological  literature  as  far  back  as  the  ninth  century, 
and  in  the  twelfth  century  it  was  made  use  of  to  arouse 
a  religious  fervour  against  the  enemies  of  Christianity. 
Most  of  the  pilgrims  of  the  Eastern  churches  believe  that 
the  fire  actually  comes  down  from  heaven  and  that  they 
are  able  to  ignite  their  candles  from  flames  sent  by  God. 

This  sacred  fire  appears  in  the  tomb  of  the  Holy  Sep- 
ulchre precisely  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the 

98 


WASHING  THE  FEET  OF  THE  APOSTLES 

Saturday  before  Easter.  On  the  morning  of  that  day  all 
of  the  lights  of  the  church  are  put  out,  and  the  people 
stand  for  hours  and  wait  for  the  great  event.  There 
are  holes  in  the  walls  of  the  Sepulchre  itself,  and  through 
these  the  candles  of  believers  are  passed  to  the  Pa- 
triarch of  Jerusalem,  who  is  inside.  He  lights  them  with 
the  sacred  flame  as  soon  as  it  appears  and  hands  them 
out  burning.  Other  candles  are  lighted  from  these,  and 
runners  carry  the  holy  fire  all  over  Palestine,  to  Bethle- 
hem and  to  Nazareth,  and  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee. 

The  night  before  the  miracle  hundreds  sleep  in  differ- 
ent chapels  and  in  the  rotunda,  in  order  to  hold  good 
places  for  the  morrow,  and  during  the  day  the  churches 
are  thronged  to  such  an  extent  that  people  are  often 
injured  by  the  crush.  In  the  morning  everyone  has  a 
bunch  of  candles  in  his  hand.  There  are  ten  thousand 
dozens  of  candles  in  the  crowd,  and  all  are  to  be  lighted 
within  an  hour  with  fire  from  heaven,  as  they  believe. 

When  the  ceremonies  begin,  the  Greek  Patriarch  and 
his  bishops  in  gorgeous  dresses  march  three  times  round 
the  Sepulchre  with  banners,  praying.  They  ask  God  to 
send  down  the  fire,  and  their  march  is  preceded  by  a 
flag  and  a  cross.  There  is  chanting  and  crossing,  and 
then  the  Copts  follow  their  Ethiopian  Patriarch,  gorgeous 
in  his  gold  cap  and  gown.  Now  there  is  silence,  and  the 
only  sound  is  that  of  the  squeezing  mass  as  it  breath- 
lessly watches. 

The  Patriarch  has  entered  the  Sepulchre,  and  the  fire 
is  expected  from  heaven.  No  one  seems  to  suspect  that 
it  comes  from  his  matches,  and  the  scratching,  if  there 
be  any,  is  not  heard.  It  appears  to  be  all  dark  within 
the  walls  of  the  Sepulchre.     Suddenly  there  is  a  great 

99 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

shout,  A  faint  light  shines  out  through  the  holes.  The 
soldiers  struggle  to  keep  the  crowd  back.  Men  with 
whips  push  this  way  and  that,  making  roads  through 
the  mass  which  the  soldiers  try  to  keep  clear.  The 
priests  stand  at  the  holes  in  the  walls,  and  great  bunches 
of  candles  are  passed  in.  They  are  handed  out  lighted, 
and  fleet  runners  seize  them  and  dash  to  the  various 
chapels.  The  Copt  chapel  at  the  back  of  the  Sepulchre 
flames  with  lights,  and  in  less  time  than  it  takes  for  me  to 
write  this  sentence,  the  whole  of  the  mass  below  me  is  a 
blaze  of  fire.  Every  man,  woman,  and  child  holds  a 
lighted  candle,  and  many  are  hauled  up  by  strings  from 
one  gallery  to  the  other.  A  priest  creeps  along  the  roof 
of  the  chapel  of  the  Sepulchre.  He  lights  the  hundreds 
of  lamps  and  candles  upon  its  edges;  and  as  I  look  over  it 
I  see  that  the  Greek  chapel  beyond  now  blazes  with 
thousands  of  coloured  lights.  The  lamps  over  the  whole 
of  the  great  church  are  burning.  The  smoke  comes  up 
in  great  clouds,  and  the  air  is  perceptibly  warmer. 

It  is  just  seven  minutes  by  my  watch  since  the  first 
candle  was  lighted,  and  in  fifteen  minutes  the  sacred  fire 
will  be  all  over  Jerusalem. 


[OO 


Readv-mades  have  not  yet  arrived  in  the  Near  East.  Jerusalem 
tailors  sit  at  the  doors  of  their  tiny  dark  shops  on  ledges  two  feet  above 
the  street  level.  Customers  must  stand  outside  to  bargain  and  be 
measured 


i  I  I 


■ 


l\ 


The  Greek  Church  has  the  finest  collection  of  religious  paintings  in 
all  Jerusalem.  This  has  long  been  the  richest  and  most  powerful  of  the 
Christian  sects  in  the  Holy  City  and  has  roused  much  antagonism  in  the 
other  churches 


CHAPTER  XIV 

A  TALK  WITH  THE  GREEK  PATRIARCH 

1HAVE  just  had  an  audience  with  one  of  the  chief 
reHgious  functionaries  of  the  oriental  world.  The 
Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  is  first  in  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,  and  as  the  head  of  the  Greek  Church 
in  Syria,  Palestine,  and  Arabia,  he  is  the  pope  of  the 
East.  Most  of  the  people  of  Russia  belong  to  what  was 
once  a  part  of  the  Greek  Church,  and  it  has  other  mil- 
lions of  members  in  Greece,  Turkey,  and  Asia  Minor. 
As  a  result  of  immigration,  there  are  also  hundreds  of 
Greek  churches  in  the  United  States.  It  is  the  most 
powerful  and  the  richest  church  of  all  the  denominations 
represented  in  Jerusalem. 

There  is  no  king  in  the  world  who  appears  in  such 
splendour  upon  state  occasions  as  the  Patriarch  of  Je- 
rusalem. He  wears  cloth  of  gold  and  his  great  hat  is 
covered  with  magnificent  diamonds,  emeralds,  and  rubies. 
The  bishops  who  march  with  him  have  crosses  of  dia- 
monds hanging  about  their  necks,  and  their  dresses  are  of 
gold  and  silver  brocade.  The  mitre  and  other  church 
insignia  are  of  solid  gold  and  silver.  In  the  treasury  of 
the  Greek  Church  here  there  are  jewels  which  would 
make  the  treasures  of  many  a  palace  seem  commonplace, 
for  the  rich  men  and  the  kings  of  the  world  have  for  gene- 
rations been  giving  to  this  collection,  thinking  that  in 
so  doing  they  have  been  buying  their  way  into  heaven. 

lOI 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

The  Greek  Church  has  a  score  of  monasteries  and  con- 
vents in  the  Holy  City  where  it  can  accommodate  pil- 
grims by  the  thousands.  Its  believers  come  to  worship 
here  from  the  borders  of  Siberia,  from  the  isles  of  Greece, 
and  from  the  wilds  of  Arabia,  and  as  I  write  there  are 
thousands  of  Russian  pilgrims  paying  their  devotions  in 
the  gorgeous  Greek  chapel  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre.  The  Greek  Church  has  a  faith  which  might 
be  called  a  cross  between  Roman  Catholicism  and  Prot- 
estantism. It  differs  from  Catholicism  chiefly  in  deny- 
ing the  spiritual  supremacy  of  the  Pope,  in  not  demanding 
the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  except  the  bishops,  and  in 
authorizing  all  of  its  people  to  read  the  Scriptures.  It 
claims  to  be  the  original  Christian  church  and  says  that 
the  Roman  Catholics  broke  away  from  it.  The  dispute 
between  the  two  branches  of  the  Church  arose  three  or 
four  hundred  years  after  Christ.  It  was  a  question  as 
to  what  should  be  the  rank  of  the  Patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, and  as  the  Pope  would  not  give  in  the  trou- 
ble began.  It  continued  off  and  on  until  about  looo  a.  d., 
when  the  two  churches  broke  apart,  and  from  that  time 
the  Greek  Church  has  existed  on  its  own  footing. 

The  head  of  the  Greek  Church  is  the  Patriarch  of 
Constantinople,  and  under  him  are  the  patriarchs  of 
Jerusalem,  Antioch,  and  Alexandria.  Since  the  sixteenth 
century,  the  Russian  branch  has  been  independent  of 
the  main  body.  These  patriarchs  are  elected  by  the 
clergy  and  the  laity.  They  have  limited  terms  of  office, 
but  the  Patriarch's  power  over  the  people  here  in  Je- 
rusalem is  to  a  large  extent  that  of  a  judge  as  well  as 
of  a  pope. 

But  let  me  tell  you  about  my  talk  with  His  Beatitude. 

102 


A  TALK  WITH  THE  GREEK  PATRIARCH 

It  was  arranged  by  one  of  the  church  and  the  audience 
took  place  in  the  Patriarch's  house,  a  great  stone  build- 
ing near  the  Pool  of  Hezekiah  and  not  far  from  the 
Church  of  the  Sepulchre.  His  Beatitude  lives  there 
with  one  hundred  monks,  and  I  saw  many  fme-looking 
Greek  priests  as  I  went  up  the  stairs  of  rose-coloured 
marble.  I  passed  through  several  rooms  filled  with 
high-capped,  black-gowned  ecclesiastics,  and  as  I  waited 
priests  and  bishops  from  the  four  quarters  of  Greek 
Catholicism  passed  in  and  out.  One  of  the  priests,  who 
spoke  English,  went  with  me  into  the  audience  chamber 
and  gave  me  a  seat  at  the  right  of  the  throne.  He  asked 
me  to  wait,  telling  me  that  the  Patriarch  would  be  in 
shortly. 

Meantime,  there  were  others  who  had  come  for  an 
audience,  and  the  chairs  about  the  long  table  in  the 
centre  of  the  room  were  soon  filled.  Most  of  the  men 
were  bearded  priests  dressed  in  black  gowns  and  high 
caps. 

As  we  waited  a  servant  brought  in  a  silver  tray  con- 
taining a  plate  of  rose-and-white  cubes  of  Turkish  delight 
and  several  glasses  of  water.  Upon  the  tray  were  many 
silver  forks,  each  having  two  fine  tines  as  long  as  my 
little  finger.  As  the  candy  was  passed  each  one  of  us 
took  a  fork  and  stabbed  it  into  a  cube  of  the  sweets, 
and  thus  conveyed  it  to  the  mouth.     It  was  delicious. 

By  and  by  the  Patriarch  entered.  He  talked  first 
with  some  of  the  priests,  so  I  had  a  good  chance  to  study 
him.  Imagine  a  tall,  full-bearded,  fair-faced  man  of 
middle  age  dressed  in  a  long  black  gown  and  a  rimless 
black  hat  which  rises  eight  inches  over  his  forehead. 

The  gown,  which  is  cut  full,  falls  to  his  feet.     His 

103 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

cap  is  draped  with  black  cloth  which  covers  his  shoul- 
ders, and  about  his  neck  is  a  long,  heavy  gold  chain  to 
which  hangs  an  ivory  medallion  as  big  as  the  palm  of  your 
hand.  The  rim  of  this  medallion  is  studded  with  dia- 
monds and  inside  the  rim  is  a  painting  of  the  Madonna 
with  the  Holy  Child  in  her  arms. 

I  watched  the  Patriarch  as  he  talked.  He  gestured 
now  and  then  and  I  saw  that  his  hands  were  soft  and 
his  nails  well  kept.  His  face  changed  with  the  subject 
and  the  man  he  spoke  to.  At  times  he  was  serious, 
again  his  eyes  sparkled  with  animation,  and  now  and 
then  he  broke  into  a  smile. 

My  talk  with  him  was  through  the  Greek  priest, 
who  spoke  English.  I  asked  His  Beatitude  about  the 
condition  of  the  Church.  He  spoke  of  many  sects  of 
Christians  now  in  the  Holy  Land,  saying  that  they 
were  gradually  growing  more  liberal,  and  that  they 
would  work  more  in  harmony  than  they  had  in  the  past. 

1  asked  about  the  life  of  the  priests  and  whether  he 
thought  it  was  as  pious  as  that  of  the  hermits  who  lived 
in  the  second  and  third  centuries  after  Christ.  He 
replied  that  he  doubted  whether  man  was  as  good  now 
as  then,  but  that  the  Church  was  doing  what  it  could  to 
bring  him  back  to  the  faith.  He  said  he  believed  that 
the  time  would  come  when  all  mankind  would  be  Chris- 
tian, although  that  time  would  probably  be  far  in  the 
future.  I  was  surprised  to  hear  him  speak  well  of  the 
Protestants  and  say  that  all  Christian  sects  would  even- 
tually unite  and  work  together  as  one  for  the  salvation 
of  man. 

His  Beatitude  was  much  interested  in  America  and  at 
my  request  gave  me  the  blessing  which  he  gives  to  all 

104 


A  TALK  WITH  THE  GREEK  PATRIARCH 

true  believers,  saying  that  I  must  transmit  it  to  the 
American  people,  each  of  whom  could  regard  it  as  being 
made  especially  for  him.  This  blessing  was  given  to 
me  in  a  golden  frame.  The  words  are  printed  in  Greek 
in  letters  of  gold.     Literally  translated,  it  reads: 

Almighty  God,  the  Father  of  Mercy  and  God  of  Prayer,  bless,  purify, 
and  strengthen  these  Thy  disciples  who  now  bow  before  Thee. 

From  every  wicked  work  withdraw  them,  and  in  every  right  action 
give  them  Thy  aid. 

Make  all  things  smooth  to  each  according  to  his  wants.  Be  with 
those  travelling  upon  the  water  and  upon  the  land.  Comfort  the  poor 
and  heal  the  sick. 

We  praise  Thee,  Our  Father,  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit,  the 
source  of  all  graciousness  and  glory. 

And  now  may  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  love  of  God  the 
Father,  and  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Spirit  be  with  you.     Amen. 

Then  there  was  a  little  more  talk  about  the  Greek 
Church  and  a  second  servant  came  in  with  another  tray 
more  elaborate  than  was  the  first  one.  Upon  this  were 
wine  glasses  filled  with  a  liquor  the  colour  of  the  dark 
moss  rose.  It  was  flavoured  with  peppermint  and  had 
the  rich,  oily  strength  of  age.  Though  scarcely  more 
than  three  thimblefuls,  it  brought  a  pleasant  warmth 
to  the  whole  frame  five  minutes  after  it  was  drunk,  and 
the  discussion  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Greek  Church  fell 
on  my  ear  like  the  poetry  of  Moore. 

This  refreshment  was  followed  a  few  moments  later  by 
a  third  servant  who  brought  in  Turkish  coffee  served  in 
little  cups  of  fine  china,  each  the  size  of  the  smallest 
egg  cup.  The  coffee  was  as  thick  as  Vermont  molasses. 
It  was  sweet  and  delicious  and  was  served  without  cream. 
After  coffee  is   served  in  Jerusalem  the  caller  can  po- 

105 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

litely  terminate  his  visit.  We  sipped  the  aromatic  liquid 
and  then  arose  to  say  good-bye.  This  we  said  in  Amer- 
ican style,  shaking  hands  with  "His  Blessedness"  and 
receiving  from  him  a  present  of  a  Bethlehem  egg.  My 
egg  lies  before  me  as  I  write.  Its  ground  is  the  same 
red  as  the  coloured  eggs  of  the  American  Easter,  but  this 
red  is  covered  with  etchings  and  on  one  side  there  is  a 
rude  picture  of  Christ  ascending  to  heaven,  with  the 
cross  in  the  background  and  with  the  Virgin  Mary  hold- 
ing up  her  hands  in  adoration.  On  the  other  side  in  a 
wreath  of  olive  branches  is  the  date. 

There  is  room  in  Palestine  for  the  Patriarch's  hope 
that  some  day  the  Christian  sects  will  get  along  better 
together  than  is  now  the  case.  The  Holy  Land  often 
boils  and  seethes  with  the  quarrels  of  the  religious  fa- 
natics. Almost  every  sacred  place  in  the  country  is 
claimed  at  the  same  time  by  the  Greeks,  Latins,  Armen- 
ians, and  Copts.  Some  of  the  holiest  spots  are  divided 
up,  and  lines  are  drawn  here  and  there  indicating  the  sect 
to  which  each  part  belongs.  The  various  denominations 
are  frequently  divided  among  themselves  as  to  who 
shall  control  the  monasteries,  convents,  and  other  insti- 
tutions belonging  to  them,  and  quarrelling  even  goes  on 
over  the  very  spot  where  Christ  was  born  and  upon  that 
where  it  is  supposed  the  Crucifixion  took  place. 

These  quarrels  are  sometimes  serious.  Knives  have 
been  drawn  and  people  have  been  killed  in  these  re- 
ligious riots.  Some  years  ago  a  monk  was  shot  by  an 
American  pilgrim  in  the  Church  of  the  Nativity  at 
Bethlehem,  and  more  recently  a  gigantic  candle  was  sent 
to  Jerusalem  addressed  to  the  care  of  certain  priests. 
This  candle  was  nine  feet  high  and  two  feet  thick,  and  as 

1 06 


A  TALK  WITH  THE  GREEK  PATRIARCH 

far  as  its  outward  appearance  was  concerned  seemed  to  be 
entirely  of  wax.  It  was  shipped  in  from  abroad,  and  was 
intended  to  be  lighted  inside  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  and  to  burn  there  while  the  Easter  celebrations 
were  at  their  height.  At  that  time  the  church  would 
have  been  filled  with  Greeks,  Armenians,  Latins,  and 
Abyssinians.  When  the  candle  came  to  Jaffa,  the  cus- 
toms officers  held  it  for  duties,  and  sent  word  to  the 
priests  to  come  and  get  it.  When  they  failed  to  appear 
it  was  cut  open  and  five  thousand  little  dynamite  balls 
were  found  inside  it.  Had  it  exploded  at  the  time  of  the 
ceremonies  ten  thousand  or  more  people  would  have  been 
in  danger  of  losing  their  lives. 

That  candle  might  have  been  sent  by  a  Greek  who  was 
disgruntled  at  the  Church,  and  in  his  desire  for  revenge 
cared  not  how  many  he  killed.  I  am  told  that  some  of 
the  factions  in  the  Greek  Church  have  refused  to  go  to 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  until  their  wrongs  are 
righted.  The  Greeks  who  are  natives  of  Palestine  claim 
that  they  have  the  sole  right  to  the  church  and  church 
property.  There  have  already  been  numerous  riots  be- 
tween these  Greeks  and  the  foreign  monks,  and  at  one 
time  the  people  demanded  that  the  Patriarch  of  the 
Greek  Church  resign. 

The  fight  among  the  Greeks  is  to  some  extent  senti- 
mental, but  it  is  also  said  to  be  largely  one  for  the  loaves 
and  fishes.  The  Greeks  are  the  most  powerful  religious 
body  in  Palestine,  and  their  property  runs  high  into  the 
millions.  Scattered  over  the  Holy  Land  from  Dan  to 
Beersheba  are  their  monasteries,  convents,  and  hospices, 
to  all  of  which  pilgrims  who  travel  over  the  country 
make  contributions.     Some  of  the  places  are  so  valuable 

107 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

that  the  priests  in  charge  are  said  to  pay  a  lump  sum  of 
a  thousand  dollars  or  more  a  year  for  the  privilege  of 
presiding  at  them,  expecting  to  recoup  themselves  from 
the  gifts  of  the  pilgrims.  Here  in  Jerusalem  there  are 
thirty-five  Greek  monasteries  and  other  big  buildings 
managed  by  six  hundred  monks. 

The  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  the  greater  part 
of  which  belongs  to  the  Greeks,  brings  in  tens  of  thousands 
of  dollars  every  year  to  the  Church.  There  are  thousands 
of  Russians  who  make  pilgrimages  to  this  city,  and  each 
is  expected  to  leave  an  offering  according  to  his  wealth 
and  spiritual  desires. 

The  Greek  Church  also  owns  the  shops  of  a  bazaar 
near  the  Holy  Sepulchre  and  holds  the  titles  to  the 
most  valuable  of  the  buildings  about  the  Jaffa  Gate  and 
David's  Tower,  including  the  Grand  New  Hotel  building. 

The  native  monks  say  that  the  Greek  priests  who  have 
come  in  from  Constantinople,  Athens,  Smyrna,  the  Isle  of 
Samos,  and  other  places  now  hold  all  the  fat  jobs,  and  that 
they  themselves  are  compelled  to  work  for  only  a  few  dol- 
lars a  month.  They  do  the  pastoral  work  of  the  villages 
and  act  as  the  priests  of  the  towns.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  outsiders  have  amassed  fortunes.  They  pretend  to 
be  hermits  and  devoted  to  fasting  and  prayer,  but  they 
are  accused  of  living  luxuriously  and  of  keeping  estab- 
lishments by  no  means  as  good  as  they  should  be. 

Indeed,  the  fights  among  the  warring  Christians  have 
sometimes  been  so  bad  that  the  Mohammedan  soldiers 
here  had  to  use  whips  to  keep  them  in  order.  I  have 
seen  Moslem  soldiers  in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
at  Easter  time  whipping  the  quarrelling  Greeks,  Ar- 
menians, and  Copts  in  order  to  separate  them.     It  is  not 

1 08 


Outside  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  candle  sellers,  rosary  pedlars, 
and  hawkers  of  relics  trade  on  the  holiness  of  the  Holy  City 


The  Moslem  who  knows  his  Koran  by  heart  commands  the  respect  of  the 
Faithful.     In  many  Mohammedan  schools  it  is  the  sole  textbook 


The  Palestinians  never  buy  grain  b\-  the  sack,  for  they  want  to  see  just 
how  much  they  are  getting.  The  merchant  shakes  the  full  measure,  then 
heaps  up  the  top  with  his  hands.  This  is  the  Biblical  "good  measure 
pressed  down,  shaken  together  and  running  over" 


A  TALK  WITH  THE  GREEK  PATRIARCH  • 

an  uncommon  thing  for  blood  to  pollute  the  Holy  Sepul- 
chre on  festal  days. 

Conditions  are  especially  bad  at  Easter  time  when  the 
thousands  belonging  to  the  different  sects  go  marching 
about  singing  their  fanatical  songs  and  denouncing  each 
other.  One  of  their  cries  is:  "This  is  the  tomb  of  our 
Lord."  Another  is:  "Oh,  Jews!  Jews!  your  feasts  are 
the  feasts  of  pigs." 

As  they  go  the  Greeks  jostle  the  Armenians  and  the 
Abyssinians  bump  against  the  Latins.  Not  long  since 
the  followers  of  one  sect  set  fire  to  some  rich  hangings 
that  had  been  placed  in  a  grotto  of  the  church  by  the 
followers  of  another  sect.  The  fire  spread,  the  church 
was  filled  with  smoke,  and  it  narrowly  escaped  being 
burned. 

The  Greeks  of  Palestine  claim  that  they  have  the 
right  to  all  the  churches,  convents,  and  monasteries 
belonging  to  their  church  in  the  Holy  Land.  They  de- 
mand that  the  money  changers,  as  they  call  the  for- 
eign priests,  be  whipped  out  of  the  temple,  and  that  the 
gifts  of  the  pilgrims  be  applied  to  the  building  of  hos- 
pitals, old-age  homes,  and  schools  for  their  children. 
This  movement  is  not  confined  to  Jerusalem,  but  extends 
throughout  Palestine  and  has  the  approval  of  the  best 
element  of  the  communities. 

Until  recent  years  we  have  had  so  few  Greek  Chris- 
tians in  the  United  States  that  it  is  hard  for  us  to  ap- 
preciate what  the  Greek  Church  means.  It  is  one  of  the 
strong  churches  of  the  world.  It  has  altogether  about 
one  hundred  and  twenty  million  members,  or  one  fifth 
of  all  the  Christians  on  earth,  and  more  than  two  thirds 
as  many  as  all  the  Protestants.     I  have  before  me  the 

109 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

latest  statistics  of  religious  denominations.  There  are 
in  the  world  two  hundred  million  Roman  Catholics,  about 
one  hundred  and  sixty  million  Protestants,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  million  Greek  Christians — five  hundred  thou- 
sand who  belong  to  the  Church  of  Abyssinia — and  about 
seven  hundred  thousand  Armenians.  The  sum  total  of 
Christians  is  less  than  six  hundred  million,  and  less  than 
one  third  of  the  population  of  the  world. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  three  hundred  and  ten 
million  who  worship  Confucius,  two  hundred  and  fifteen 
million  Hindus,  two  hundred  and  thirty  million  Mo- 
hammedans, and  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  million 
Buddhists. 


I  10 


CHAPTER  XV 

AMONG  THE  MONEY  CHANGERS 

'F  YOU  would  be  cheated  out  of  your  eyeteeth,  come  to 
Jerusalem.  Its  bazaars  are  filled  with  tricksters  and 
traders,  and  it  has  its  usurers  and  money  changers 
as  in  the  days  of  the  Saviour.  The  people  prey  upon 
the  pilgrims  and  tourists.  Their  main  object  is  to  get 
gain,  and  they  work  the  holiness  of  the  Holy  City  for  all 
it  is  worth.  They  sell  candles  which  if  burnt  in  the 
Church  of  the  Sepulchre  will  carry  away  your  sins  in 
their  smoke;  and  rosaries  upon  which  if  you  count  your 
prayers  you  may  be  sure  of  their  ascending  to  heaven. 

The  rosary  business  is  a  big  factor  in  Jerusalem  The 
beads  are  cut  out  in  great  quantities  at  Bethlehem  and 
are  shipped  abroad  by  the  millions.  They  are  sent  to 
the  Holy  City  for  sale,  and  there  are  some  stores  which 
have  nothing  else  except  perhaps  crucifixes  and  collection 
plates. 

The  merchants  who  sell  rosaries  are  often  great  rascals. 
I  know  one,  a  Bethlehemite,  who  has  just  received  a  les- 
son which  he  is  not  likely  soon  to  forget.  The  man's 
rosary  store  is  situated  down  Christian  Street,  not  far 
from  the  place  where  you  turn  in  to  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre.  His  lesson  came  from  a  Jesuit  priest, 
who  lives  in  Chicago,  and  who  is  just  now  starting  home. 
The  holy  father  had  come  into  the  shop  to  buy  some 
rosaries  to  carry  back  to  his  friends.     He  had  picked  out 

i  i  I 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

a  half-dozen  beautiful  ones,  and  had  paid  the  price  with- 
out bargaining.  As  the  storekeeper  wrapped  up  his 
purchase,  the  priest  looked  at  him  out  of  the  tail  of  his 
eye  and  saw  him  slip  under  the  counter  the  rosaries  se- 
lected and  put  some  cheaper  ones  in  their  place.  The 
Jesuit  said  nothing,  but  he  took  up  several  beautiful 
carvings  representing  the  Crucifixion  and  Ascension,  each 
of  which  was  worth  about  twice  as  much  as  the  rosaries 
he  had  chosen.  Handing  these  to  the  man,  he  told  him 
to  wrap  them  up.  This  being  done,  he  took  both  par- 
cels and  started  out  of  the  store.  The  Bethlehemite 
merchant  ran  after  him,  and  told  him  he  had  not  paid 
for  the  carvings.    The  father  replied: 

"My  friend,  I  saw  you  change  those  rosaries  and 
give  me  the  cheaper  ones,  and  you  may  consider  this 
a  judgment  of  God  upon  you  for  cheating.  I  shall  keep 
these  carvings,  and  if  you  do  not  immediately  return  to 
your  store  I  will  report  you  to  the  Mohammedan 
courts." 

The  man,  seeing  he  was  caught,  let  the  priest  go. 

Another  large  business  is  the  selling  of  candles.  Je- 
rusalem is  full  of  shrines,  and  the  pilgrims  buy  candles  to 
burn  at  the  holy  places.  They  set  them  up  at  the  score 
or  more  sacred  spots  in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
and  at  the  stations  along  the  Via  Dolorosa  where  Christ 
walked  on  His  way  to  Golgotha.  They  carry  them  to 
the  Mount  of  Olives  and  to  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane. 
Some  buy  several  candles  for  each  shrine,  and  the  richer 
purchase  some  of  enormous  size  and  many  colours.  The 
candle  business  is  especially  brisk  at  Easter  time. 

As  I  have  said  before,  many  of  the  streets  are  vaulted 
over,  and  we  often  pass  for  a  half-mile  through  what 

112 


Bethlehem  maids  are  the  prettiest  in  all  Palestine.     The\'  bring  fresh 
vegetables  into  Jerusalem  each  day  and  sell  them  in  the  markets 


The  rosaries  sold  by  the  bushel  in  Jerusalem  are  made  in  Bethlehem 
of  carved  olive  wood  and  of  mother-of-pearl  from  the  United  States. 
Besides  the  thousands  sold  to  tourists  quantities  are  exported  every  year 


AMONG  THE  MONEY  CHANGERS 

might  be  called  a  subterranean  cavern  lighted  by  open- 
ings from  the  top  and  pierced  at  the  sides  with  cave- 
like stores.  The  smallest  business  shops  in  the  world  are 
in  Jerusalem.  A  great  many  of  the  stores  are  no  bigger 
than  a  dry-goods  box.  They  have  no  windows.  I  stopped 
this  afternoon  before  a  shoe  repair  shop,  and,  out  of 
curiosity,  took  its  measurements.  It  was  a  hole  in  the 
wall  with  its  bottom  edge  four  feet  above  the  cobble- 
stone street.  A  rude  stone  two  feet  high  was  the  step  by 
which  the  shoemaker  crawled  in.  It  was  just  three 
feet  wide,  five  feet  high,  and  eight  feet  deep.  It  was  as 
dark  as  a  pocket,  and  the  shoemaker  squatting  in  the  en- 
trance with  a  board  on  his  lap  filled  it  completely.  He 
was  working  at  a  pair  of  rough  Bedouin  shoes  the  owner 
of  which  sat  cross-legged  and  in  his  bare  feet  in  the  street 
outside.  As  the  cobbler  waxed  his  thread  he  was  care- 
ful to  move  his  hands  toward  the  street  and  back  into 
the  shop.  The  place  was  so  small  that  had  he  pulled  his 
thread  in  the  ordinary  way  he  would  have  barked  his 
elbows  against  the  walls. 

Next  to  this  shoe  shop  there  was  a  Jerusalem  restau- 
rant. It  was  an  oval  hole  cut  into  the  hill  twelve  feet 
high,  eight  feet  wide,  and  forty  feet  deep.  At  the  front 
was  the  cooking  stove  of  Jerusalem,  a  rude  slab  of  lime- 
stone with  holes  cut  in  the  top  as  big  around  as  a  work- 
man's dinner  bucket,  and  with  other  holes  piercing  these 
from  the  sides.  A  few  inches  from  the  top  of  each  hole 
was  a  rude  iron  grating  upon  which  the  charcoal  was 
laid.  The  draft  which  came  in  from  below  kept  the  fire 
going.  The  slab  was  mounted  on  cord-wood  posts  and 
had  five  fireplaces.  At  the  back  a  rough  table  without 
a  cloth  was  set  for  the  guests.     The  only  chairs  were  lit- 

113 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

tie  stools  a  foot  high  and  about  a  foot  square  the  seats 
of  which  were  of  woven  cords. 

Each  kind  of  business,  or  trade,  has  its  own  bazaar. 
There  is  a  shoemaker's  bazaar  where  scores  of  cobblers 
are  working.  At  the  entrance  to  each  cavelike  shop  two 
shoemakers  sit  sewing  away  with  untanned  calfskin 
aprons  tight  about  them.  Between  them  on  a  block  of 
wood,  an  olive  tree  stump  it  may  be,  rests  a  slab  of  white 
marble.  This  is  the  shoemakers'  bench,  upon  which  they 
pound  the  wet  leather  to  make  it  soft  with  what  looks 
like  a  brass  paper  weight.  It  is  as  big  around  as  a  tum- 
bler and  of  about  the  same  height,  tapering  from  the  top 
to  the  bottom. 

The  shoes  are  all  made  with  needle  and  thread.  The 
soles  are  of  camel  hide  and  the  uppers  of  kidskin  or  goat- 
skin. These  are  the  common  shoes  of  the  peasant.  As 
I  watched  the  cobblers  I  asked  about  their  wages  and  was 
told  they  received  from  forty  to  sixty  cents  for  labouring 
from  sunrise  to  sunset. 

In  another  street  tinsmiths  are  at  work  making  pots  and 
pans  out  of  oil  cans.  Their  shops  are  not  much  bigger 
than  cupboards,  and  the  workmen  are  long-bearded  men 
in  fez  caps  and  gowns. 

Farther  on  is  the  grain  market,  consisting  of  many  great 
vaulted  chambers  one  or  more  of  which  belongs  to  each 
merchant.  The  vaults  are  filled  with  piles  of  wheat, 
corn,  barley,  oats,  and  millet  spread  out  on  the  floor.  The 
grain  is  sold  by  measure.  I  saw  a  Bedouin  come  in  to 
buy  two  bushels  of  oats.  It  was  dipped  out  by  the  peck, 
the  merchant  shaking  the  measure  to  make  the  grain 
solid,  and  then  heaping  up  the  top  with  his  hands  so 
that  the  oats  formed  a  cone.     This  was  the  "good  measure 

114 


AMONG  THE  MONEY  CHANGERS 

pressed  down,  shaken  together,  and  running  over,"  as 
mentioned  in  St.  Luke.  The  people  here  never  buy  grain 
by  the  sack,  for  they  want  to  see  it  measured  out  before 
their  eyes.  But  I  am  told  that  the  grain  sellers  are  some- 
times able  to  impose  upon  those  who  purchase,  making 
them  think  they  get  more  than  they  really  do. 

Much  of  the  grain  of  the  Holy  City  is  ground  at  home 
and  a  great  deal  of  that  of  Palestine  is  made  into  flour  with 
hand  mills.  Some  flour  is  imported  and  some  is  ground 
in  mills  worked  by  camels  or  donkeys.  In  baking  bread 
the  dough  is  kneaded  at  home  and  brought  in  great 
lumps  to  the  public  ovens  to  be  found  in  almost  every 
street.  They  are  cave-like  vaults  running  down  below 
the  street  level.  At  the  back  of  each  vault  is  the  oven 
with  a  sort  of  well  before  its  open  door.  In  the  well 
stands  the  baker  with  a  long  paddle  in  his  hand  upon 
which  he  puts  in  and  takes  out  the  loaves.  I  have  seen 
many  bakeries  of  this  kind.  The  fuel  is  olive  wood,  and 
the  oven  floor  is  marked  out  in  blocks,  so  that  the  bak- 
ing of  each  family  may  be  put  on  a  separate  block.  The 
loaves  are  about  an  inch  thick  and  the  size  of  a  tea  plate. 
Each  has  a  hole  in  the  centre.  The  baker  gets  a  few  cents 
for  each  half-dozen  loaves,  or  he  may  instead  take  a  toll 
of  one  loaf  for  each  dozen.  Before  starting  the  baking 
he  greases  the  floor  of  the  oven  with  olive  oil. 

The  reason  for  these  public  bakeries  is  the  great  cost 
of  fuel.  The  Arabs  have  a  proverb  showing  that  such 
baking  is  the  cheapest.  This  runs:  "Send  your  bread 
to  the  oven  of  the  baker  even  though  he  should  eat  the 
half  of  it." 

I  frequently  see  boys  carrying  dough  to  these  bakeries, 
or  bringing  bread    home  from  them.     They    use  trays 

115 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

which  they  bear  on  their  heads.  Ancient  Jerusalem  had 
its  Bakers'  Street,  for  we  read  that  King  Zedekiah  put 
the  prophet  Jeremiah  into  the  court  of  the  prison  and 
commanded  that  they  "should  give  him  daily  a  piece  of 
bread  out  of  the  Bakers'  Street." 

During  my  stay  in  Jerusalem  I  have  enjoyed  the  salad 
which  is  served  at  the  hotel  with  an  olive  oil  dressing. 
This  is  a  land  of  olives  and  the  oil  is  delicious.  It  is  as 
clear  as  honey  with  a  tint  like  the  green  of  chartreuse. 
I  say  I  have  enjoyed  it,  but  I  doubt  whether  I  shall  en- 
joy it  hereafter.     Why?     I  have  seen  how  it  is  made. 

Come  with  me  to  an  oil  mill  which  is  kept  in  a  cave 
just  oflf  David  Street,  not  more  than  a  stone's  throw 
from  the  Pool  of  Hezekiah.  At  the  side  of  the  door  there 
is  a  stone  ledge.  In  the  centre  of  this  is  a  hole  as  big 
around  as  a  flour  barrel  in  which,  with  his  clothes  tied 
up  about  his  waist,  with  bare  legs  and  bare  feet,  stands  a 
sweating  Ethiopian  treading  the  oil  out  of  the  ground 
olives.  Peeping  over  into  the  well  in  which  he  is  stand- 
ing, we  see  that  he  has  a  linen  cloth  laid  on  the  top  of 
the  mushy  mixture.  He  tramps  this  cloth  into  the 
olives  with  his  feet  and  taking  it  up  wet,  wrings  out  the 
oil  into  a  red  clay  basin  from  whence  it  is  poured  into 
pots  to  be  strained  for  the  market. 

Farther  back  stand  a  camel  and  a  very  small,  knotty 
little  donkey  munching  away  while  the  mill  is  not  go- 
ing. These  animals  grind  up  the  olives,  and  in  another 
cave  opening  into  this  we  can  see  the  mill  itself.  It  is 
much  like  a  horsepower  grist  mill,  or  the  bark  mill  of  a 
country  tannery,  and  the  camel  and  donkey  walk  round 
and  round  in  a  circle  hitched  to  a  bar  which  turns  the 
mill.    Their  food  is  a  brown  cake  made  from  what  is 

ii6 


In  the  Turkish  restaurants  food  is  cooked  over  holes  in  a  limestone 
slab,  while  below  the  charcoal  fire  is  fed  through  other  openings  which  also 
make  the  draught. 


During  the  day  the  low  cavelike  shop  of  the  Jerusalem  shoemaker  opens 
directly  upon  the  street.  At  night  it  is  closed  by  two  swinging  doors  on 
rude  hinges 


rV^ 


.*-*    •>■ 


©U  fi,U 


Christ's  happiest  hours  were  spent  with  his  friends  at  Bethanx',  the 
village  where  He  lived  when  He  was  teaching  in  Jerusalem  near  b\'.  Here 
the  "tomb  of  Lazarus"  and  the  "house  of  Martha  and  Mary"  are  pointed 
out  to  the  traveller 


AMONG  THE  MONEY  CHANGERS 

left  of  the  olives  after  the  oil  has  been  pressed  out  of 
them. 

But  let  us  go  to  market  at  the  Jaffa  Gate  and  see  what 
the  people  have  brought  in  from  the  country  for  sale. 
There  are  scores  of  women  with  baskets  of  vegetables 
before  them.  They  have  lettuce  and  eggplants  and  beau- 
tiful cauliflowers  with  heads  as  white  as  snow.  They 
have  lemons  and  oranges  from  Jaffa  and  apples  and 
pears  from  the  highlands  of  Judea.  Many  of  the  sellers 
are  Bethlehem  girls.  Here  are  people  selling  beads,  al- 
though most  of  the  bead  sellers  are  about  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre.  Many  of  the  beads  are  of  glass  and 
come  from  Hebron,  not  far  from  the  cave  which  is  Abra- 
ham's tomb.  Hebron  is  the  chief  town  of  south  Pales- 
tine and  is  a  manufacturing  centre.  It  makes  lamps 
and  bottles  as  well  as  glass  trinkets  and  glass  beads, 
which  are  sold  all  over  the  Holy  Land. 

The  cock  which  reminded  St.  Peter  of  his  denial  of 
his  Master  has  many  descendants.  You  may  see  some 
of  them  in  this  market,  tied  by  the  legs  and  lying  on  the 
stones.  The  Holy  City  has  no  ordinance  against  crowing 
cocks,  and  nearly  every  family  here  keeps  its  own  rooster. 
There  are  so  many  that  the  city  resounds  with  their  music, 
and  about  daybreak  they  start  up  a  concert  which  mur- 
ders sleep.  I  am  living  in  the  heart  of  Jerusalem — I 
might  as  well  be  in  a  barnyard.  The  rooster  symphony 
begins  with  sunrise  and  keeps  on  until  evening,  and  then 
the  donkeys  and  camels  take  up  the  strain.  The  donkeys 
bray  louder  than  did  Balaam's  ass,  and  the  camels  whine 
and  grumble  all  night.  In  addition  to  these  noises,  there 
are  others  which  trouble  the  tourists.  The  people  rise 
with  the  chickens   and  the   stone   streets   reecho  their 

117 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

steps.  The  birds  sing  and  the  pedlars  shout.  At  the 
same  time  the  bells  begin  ringing  to  show  that  it  is  day, 
and  the  trumpets  of  the  soldiers  in  David's  Tower  add 
to  the  din.  One  can  easily  sleep  in  a  railroad  depot  or 
near  a  boiler  factory,  for  the  noises  there  are  of  one  or 
two  kinds  and  the  ear  comes  to  know  them.  Here  there 
is  a  new  sound  every  minute. 


ii8 


CHAPTER  XVI 

EXCAVATING   OLD   JERICHO 

TO-DAY  I  have  walked  through  streets  which  were 
probably  thronged  when  Moses  and  the  IsraeHtes 
were  wandering  in  the  Wilderness,  and  have 
tramped  up  and  down  staircases  of  clay  built 
hundreds  of  years  before  Christ  was  born.  I  have  been 
in  the  ruins  of  old  Jericho,  the  city  Joshua  captured  over 
three  thousand  years  ago,  now  brought  to  light  again  by 
modern  excavations. 

The  place  is  only  about  fourteen  miles  from  Jerusalem 
as  the  crow  flies.  It  lies  on  a  little  plateau,  just  under 
the  mountain  upon  which  it  is  said  our  Lord  was  tempted 
by  the  devil  and  promised  the  world.  It  is  about  three 
miles  from  the  present  town  of  Jericho,  where  I  am 
stopping,  and  within  easy  access  of  it. 

The  excavations  at  Jericho  are  the  work  of  the  Aus- 
trian Ministry  of  Education.  When  they  dug  into  what 
seemed  only  mounds  of  earth  the  remains  of  a  great 
fortified  city  were  found.  This  city  was  undoubtedly  the 
Jericho  of  Canaan.  It  lies  on  a  height  surrounded  by 
great  walls  some  of  which  are  of  stone.  It  has  inner 
walls  and  a  citadel  and  was  flanked  with  strong  towers. 
The  heart  of  the  city  is  about  twelve  hundred  feet  long 
and  five  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  wide. 

Many  of  the  houses  have  been  unearthed.  In  one  of 
them,   which   is   supposed   to   have   been   built   twenty- 

119 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

seven  hundred  years  ago,  there  was  found  an  uncovered 
courtyard.  The  house  seems  to  have  been  abandoned 
during  a  fire,  and  for  some  reason  or  other  is  better 
preserved  than  most  of  the  others.  It  contained  a  red 
sandstone  mill  for  grinding  meal  and  water  vessels  of 
various  shapes.  It  had  plates  and  jugs  as  well  as  lamps 
and  iron  vessels  with  handles  of  deer  horn. 

In  going  through  the  ruins  I  crunched  over  bushels  of 
pottery  broken  in  pieces.  I  saw  water  jars  chipped  and 
cracked.  Each  had  a  clay  stopper  as  big  as  a  tomato 
with  a  hole  through  the  centre.  There  are  hundreds  of 
these  stoppers  lying  on  the  ground.  There  are  also  stone 
mortars  which  were  used  for  grinding  grain,  and  the  re- 
mains of  amphorae,  or  huge  jars  with  necks  and  side 
handles,  which  were  buried  in  the  earth  and  used  to  hold 
wine  or  grain.  Most  of  the  pottery  is  covered  with  a 
white  glaze,  and  some  of  it  has  vertical  stripes  of  yellow 
painted  upon  it. 

In  the  buildings  the  stone  walls  are  constructed  without 
angles,  the  cracks  being  filled  in  with  smaller  stones.  I 
am  told  that  the  work  was  done  with  tools  of  bronze,  and 
that  some  of  it  dates  back  before  history.  The  centre  of 
the  city  is  on  an  egg-shaped  plateau  just  above  the  plain 
of  the  Jordan. 

It  is  difficult  in  wandering  through  these  ruins  of  mud, 
brick,  and  rough  stone  to  realize  that  here  was  once  a 
magnificent  city.  The  Jericho  of  Joshua's  day  was  not 
magnificent  in  our  sense  of  the  word,  although  it  covered 
a  large  area  and  had  a  great  many  people.  There  are 
no  remnants  of  great  marble  columns,  and  it  is  said  that 
Jericho  had  disappeared  long  before  Christ  came  and  that 
another  city  had  taken  its  place  situated  in  this  same 

120 


EXCAVATING  OLD  JERICHO 

Jordan  Valley.  The  Jericho  of  Christ  had  a  theatre,  a 
circus,  and  a  university.  It  ranked  with  Jerusalem  as 
one  of  the  important  places  in  Palestine.  Surrounded  by 
irrigated  gardens,  it  was  known  as  the  City  of  Palms.  It 
had  grown  up  in  Roman  times,  and  Mark  Antony  thought 
so  much  of  it  that  he  gave  it  as  a  present  to  Cleopatra, 
who  collected  quite  a  revenue  from  the  balsam  groves 
near  by,  which  furnished  the  gum  of  commerce.  Cotton 
was  raised  here  at  that  time,  and  this  region  was  then  a 
winter  resort  for  Jerusalem.  Herod  the  Great  had  pal- 
aces in  Jericho.  It  is  said  that  he  died  here,  although 
he  was  buried  near  Hebron.  We  know  that  our  Saviour 
came  to  Jericho,  and  here  He  healed  the  blind.  He  did 
not  stay  in  the  city,  but  dwelt  outside  in  the  house  of 
Zaccheus,  who  was  a  collector  of  taxes  for  the  Roman 
Government  and  therefore  not  popular  with  the  Jews. 
I  refer  to  Zaccheus  the  dwarf.  He  was  so  short  that 
he  feared  he  would  not  be  able  to  see  the  Christ  over 
the  heads  of  the  crowd  and,  as  you  remember  from  the 
verse  in  the  old  primer: 

Zaccheus  he  did  climb  a  tree 
His  Lord  to  see. 

The  ruins  I  have  been  exploring  represent  not  the  city 
of  Christ's  time,  but  that  of  the  day  of  Joshua  and  Rahab. 
You  remember  Rahab,  the  fair  lady,  not  so  good  as  she 
should  have  been,  who  lived  upon  the  walls  of  Jericho, 
and  who  hid  Joshua's  spies  under  the  stalks  of  flax  she 
had  stored  up  on  her  roof.  She  told  them  of  the  terror 
which  prevailed  in  the  city  over  the  expected  attack  of 
Joshua,  and  made  them  promise  to  save  her  when  Jericho 
was  taken.     The  spies  arranged  with  her  that  she  should  tie 

121 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

some  red  thread  to  the  bars  of  her  window  so  that  her 
house  might  be  spared.  She  then  let  them  down  by  a 
cord  through  the  window,  and  they  escaped  and  reported 
to  Joshua.  That  was  a  good  day's  work  for  Rahab.  The 
promise  of  the  spies  was  carried  out  by  the  Israelites. 
Moreover,  she  married  one  of  the  princes  of  Judah,  a 
man  named  Salmon,  and  thereby  became  one  of  the 
most  famous  women  of  the  ancestral  tree  of  the  Israel- 
ites. She  was  the  mother  of  Boaz,  the  husband  of  Ruth, 
and  King  David  was  one  of  her  great-great-grandchil- 
dren. On  the  next  step  of  her  genealogical  ladder  we  find 
King  Solomon,  while  away  down  the  centuries  later  comes 
the  name  of  Joseph,  the  husband  of  Mary,  and  of  the 
family  of  Christ.  In  the  first  chapter  of  Matthew  are 
given  the  generations  from  Abraham  to  the  birth  of  our 
Saviour,  in  which  are  mentioned  the  names  of  only  four 
women:  Thamar,  Rahab,  Ruth,  and  Bathsheba,  who 
had  been  the  wife  of  Uriah  and  became  the  mother  of 
Solomon. 

Right  under  old  Jericho  is  the  fountain  of  Elisha  which 
the  prophet  made  sweet  by  throwing  salt  into  it.  It  is 
not  far  from  the  spot  where  he  was  mocked  by  the  chil- 
dren who  cried  after  him:  "Go  up,  thou  bald  head." 
Thereupon,  say  the  Scriptures,  the  prophet  turned  and 
"cursed  them  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  And  there  came 
forth  two  she  bears  out  of  the  woods  and  tare  forty  and 
two  children  of  them." 

It  is  said  that  the  place  where  Elijah  was  carried  up  in 
a  whirlwind  to  heaven  was  not  far  from  Jericho,  and  on 
my  way  down  here  from  Jerusalem  I  saw  the  cave  in 
which  the  prophet  is  supposed  to  have  been  fed  by 
ravens.     It  is  in  the  Wady  Kelt,  a  great  dry  rocky  can- 

122 


EXCAVATING  OLD  JERICHO 

yon  with  high  walls.  The  cave  is  half  way  up  the  side 
of  the  gorge  and  partly  hidden  by  the  monastery  which 
the  Greeks  have  built  there. 

But  let  me  tell  you  how  I  came  down  to  Jericho.  The 
way  from  Jerusalem  is  through  the  wilderness  of  Judea, 
over  one  of  the  roughest  and  stoniest  lands  of  the  world. 
There  is  but  Httle  green  to  be  seen  and  the  glare  is  in- 
tense. The  dust  of  the  limestone  and  chalk  road  is  so 
thick  that  it  gets  into  eyes,  mouth,  and  nostrils.  This 
road,  which  is  the  chief  highway  from  the  Jordan  to  the 
Holy  City,  is  travelled  by  thousands.  The  traffic  was 
even  greater  in  the  time  of  Christ,  for  the  Jordan  Valley 
was  then  covered  with  irrigated  farms  and  the  rich  men 
of  Jerusalem  had  their  winter  homes  there. 

I  left  Jerusalem  in  a  carriage,  going  out  through  the 
Damascus  Gate,  crossing  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  and 
skirting  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane  at  the  foot  of  the 
Mount  of  Olives. 

My  carriage  was  an  easy  victoria  drawn  by  three 
Arabian  horses,  and  the  coachman  was  a  Syrian  Jehu 
with  hair  as  red  and  a  face  as  fair  as  my  own.  I  had  a 
a  soldier  with  me  to  keep  off  the  robbers.  He  was  fur- 
nished by  the  government  of  Jerusalem  at  a  cost  of  three 
dollars  and  was  under  the  direct  command  of  the  sheik 
here  at  Jericho.  This  soldier  carried  a  gun  and  sword, 
and  went  ahead,  nominally  to  clear  the  road.  Every 
party  I  met  on  the  way,  including  a  company  of  hunters 
from  Jerusalem  on  their  way  for  game  in  the  lands  be- 
yond the  Jordan,  had  an  escort  of  soldiers. 

I  stopped  at  Bethany  to  look  at  Lazarus's  tomb,  and 
was  reminded  of  how  Mark  Twain  said  that  he  would 
"  rather  sleep  in  the  tomb  than  in  any  other  house  in  the 

123 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

place."  The  Bethany  of  to-day  is  a  dirty,  ragged  village 
of  forty  or  fifty  stone  huts  inhabited  by  perhaps  three 
hundred  people.  The  houses  stand  on  the  side  of  a  hill, 
rising  one  over  the  other.  The  people  are  small  farmers 
who  cultivate  patches  of  stony  land  and  little  orchards  of 
olives  and  figs.  They  have  cows  and  make  butter  for 
Jerusalem.  They  are  all  Mohammedans,  and  their  chil- 
dren call  out  for  baksheesh. 

Entering  the  town,  I  took  a  look  at  the  tomb.  It  is 
a  sort  of  cavern  cut  out  of  limestone  and  entered  by 
steep  steps.  It  belongs  to  the  Franciscan  monks,  who 
often  say  mass  there. 

The  house  of  Mary  and  Martha,  where  Christ  stopped, 
is  said  to  have  been  in  an  inclosure  now  full  of  brambles 
and  wild  cactus.  There  is  no  building  left,  although  the 
guides  point  out  a  pile  of  stones  which  they  say  was 
once  a  part  of  the  wall. 

On  the  way  to  Bethany  I  was  shown  the  site  of  the 
fig  tree  which  was  cursed  by  the  Saviour  and  thereafter 
never  bore  fruit.  There  are  many  fig  trees  about,  and 
orchards  of  them  are  to  be  found  in  most  parts  of 
the  Holy  Land.  It  was  on  the  road  to  Bethany  that 
Christ  is  said  to  have  mounted  the  colt  which  carried 
him  on  his  triumphal  entry  into  Jerusalem  on  Palm 
Sunday. 

Shortly  after  I  left  Bethany  I  saw  a  curious  sight  by 
the  roadside.  This  was  a  man  leaning  backward  over  a 
great  gray  boulder  and  rubbing  himself  violently  upon  it. 
There  were  some  stones  on  top  of  the  rock  and  I  ob- 
served that  the  man  added  another  stone  to  the  pile 
and  that  he  kissed  the  rock  as  he  left.  I  asked  my 
guide  the  secret  of  his  actions.     He  replied:    "That  stone 

124 


Tradition  says  that  by  a  miracle  the  prophet  Eh'sha  purified  the  waters 
of  this  fountain.  Excavations  on  the  hillside  above  have  uncovered  the 
foundations  of  the  old  city  walls  of  Jericho,  over  which  Rahob  let  down 
the  two  spies  of  Joshua 


At  the  Tomb  of  Lazarus  there  are  alwa\s  natives  waiting  to  be  photo- 
graphed— for  backsheesh 


His  back  hurts  him,  and  he  is  rubbing  it  against  the  healing  stone  on  the 
way  to  Jordan,  believing  this  will  work  a  cure 


EXCAVATING  OLD  JERICHO 

is  called  the  Father  of  Rocks,  and  it  is  said  to  be  a  sure 
cure  for  backache.  The  people  here  think  that  any  one 
so  afflicted  will  be  cured  if  he  can  rub  his  sore  back 
against  it." 

A  little  farther  on  I  stopped  for  a  bottle  of  ginger  pop 
and  a  cracker  at  the  Good  Samaritan  Inn,  which  stands 
on  the  traditional  site  where  lay  the  man  who  fell  among 
thieves  when  the  priest  and  the  Levite  passed  him  by 
on  the  other  side.  It  is  right  on  the  road  about  half 
way  between  Jerusalem  and  Jericho.  There  was  a  crowd 
in  the  inn  while  I  waited,  among  them  a  Syrian  peasant 
who  had  been  robbed  by  a  party  of  Bedouins.  The  man 
was  covered  with  wounds,  and  was  crying  and  sobbing 
as  he  told  how  he  had  been  attacked  and  robbed  of  the 
money  which  he  had  just  received  from  the  sale  of  some 
sheep.  Much  of  this  country  is  unsafe,  and  no  one  who 
has  money  dares  travel  alone.  All  the  way  to  the  Jor- 
dan I  met  little  caravans  on  their  way  to  Jerusalem.  In 
every  party  there  were  some  men  with  guns  on  their 
backs.  The  guns  were  often  old-fashioned  flintlock 
muskets.  I  passed  some  donkey  trains  taking  bags  of 
charcoal  from  beyond  the  Jordan,  and  a  caravan  of 
camels  each  of  which  bore  two  great  bags  of  wheat  slung 
over  his  back.  The  drivers  of  both  donkeys  and  camels 
were  armed.  They  had  come  from  the  land  of  Moab, 
and  were  now  going  up  through  Judea. 

Before  starting  on  my  way  to  the  Jordan  I  spent  sev- 
eral hours  on  the  Mount  of  Olives.  This  mountain  is 
two  hundred  feet  higher  than  the  hills  upon  which  Je- 
rusalem stands.  It  is  directly  opposite  the  city,  being 
separated  from  it  by  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat  or  Kedron, 
and  it  can  be  easily  reached.     There  are  good  roads  up 

129 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

the  Mount  of  Olives,  and  one  can  now  ride  to  most  of 
the  holy  places. 

With  the  prosperity  which  is  coming  to  Palestine  the 
Mount  of  Olives  is  rapidly  changing.  Its  slopes  are  cul- 
tivated, the  rocks  are  being  picked  up  and  laid  in  stone 
fences,  and  the  cleared  spots  planted  to  crops  and  to 
orchards.  There  were  many  olive  orchards  on  this 
mount  in  the  days  of  the  Saviour,  who  came  here  fre- 
quently to  get  away  from  the  crowds  of  the  city.  The 
soil  seems  fertile,  and  the  crops  upon  the  mountain  grow 
luxuriantly.  There  are  green  patches  of  wheat,  barley, 
and  oats,  while  here  and  there  are  carob  trees,  with  pods 
like  those  which  furnished  the  food  for  the  prodigal  son 
when  he  ate  with  the  swine. 

The  Mount  of  Olives  is  now  spotted  with  churches  and 
chapels.  It  has  monasteries  and  convents,  a  great  Rus- 
sian church,  and  several  hospices,  including  the  huge  sani- 
tarium built  in  honour  of  Augusta,  Empress  of  Germany. 
One  of  the  most  interesting  of  these  institutions  is  a 
Carmelite  nunnery,  which  has  been  erected  over  the 
spot  where  tradition  says  Christ  taught  the  Lord's  Prayer 
to  His  disciples.  The  church  here  is  called  "The  Church 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer,"  and  has  in  its  court  tablets  in- 
scribed with  the  prayer  in  thirty-two  different  languages. 
I  visited  the  chapel  of  the  nunnery,  where  prayers  go 
up  every  day  and  night  and  every  hour  of  the  day  all 
the  year  through.  The  nuns  so  divide  their  time  that 
one  is  always  praying.  They  kneel  behind  a  screen  and 
are  not  to  be  seen  by  visitors.  This  church  is  one  of 
the  quietest  and  most  solemn  of  all  in  the  Holy  Land. 
After  the  noisy  scenes  which  take  place  about  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  it  is  a  relief. 

126 


EXCAVATING  OLD  JERICHO 

The  Carmelite  nuns  are  devout.  They  do  not  go  out 
of  the  nunnery  except  it  be  absolutely  necessary.  Even 
when  they  walk  in  its  garden  they  wear  such  heavy  veils 
that  they  have  to  hold  them  out  from  their  faces  to  see 
where  they  are  going.  My  guide  tells  me  that  each  nun 
digs  her  own  grave,  and  that  when  she  is  about  to  die 
she  is  dressed  in  her  shroud  and  carried  into  the  church 
in  order  that  she  may  pass  away  there. 

In  the  floor  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Ascension  near  the 
nunnery  is  a  spot  which  looks  like  a  footprint,  and  is 
said  to  be  the  place  where  the  foot  of  the  Saviour  rested 
before  He  ascended  to  heaven.  The  chapel  belongs  to  the 
Mohammedans  and  is  let  out  at  times  to  the  Christians. 
But  to  me  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane  was  more  interest- 
ing. It  lies  at  the  foot  of  the  Mount  of  Olives,  just  off 
the  Jericho  road.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  wall  of  yellow 
limestone  twelve  feet  high  and  about  four  feet  thick. 
On  the  outside  of  it,  in  the  shade  of  the  wall,  sat  a  score 
of  lepers  who  held  out  their  hands  for  alms  as  we  passed. 
They  were  dirty  and  filthy  and  their  disease  had  made 
them  repulsive  sights.  Some  had  no  fingers,  some  no 
noses,  and  one  held  out  a  tin  can  tied  to  the  stump  of 
her  wrist  from  which  the  hand  had  dropped  off. 

The  garden  goes  up  the  side  of  the  mountain.  It  is 
almost  square  and  does  not  cover  two  acres.  It  is  cut 
up  into  flower  beds  bordered  by  inverted  beer  and  wine 
bottles.  There  are  eight  old  olive  trees,  pansies  of  all 
shades  of  the  rainbow,  and  many  beautiful  flowers,  as 
well  as  dark  cypress  trees.  The  garden  belongs  to  the 
Franciscan  monks  who  opened  the  gate  at  our  knock. 
The  gate  is  a  mere  hole  in  the  wall,  so  low  that  all 
who   enter  must  stoop.      It  is  closed  by  an   iron  door, 

127 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

with  a  round  black  bar  of  iron,  ten  inches  long,  as  a 
knocker. 

Just  back  of  the  entrance  to  the  garden  is  a  ledge  of 
limestone  where  the  disciples  are  said  to  have  slept  during 
the  night  of  the  agony,  and  perhaps  one  hundred  feet 
farther  away  stands  a  column  which  tradition  says  marks 
the  spot  where  Judas  betrayed  Christ  with  a  kiss.  Both 
of  these  places  have  been  worn  smooth  by  the  lips  of 
thousands  of  pilgrims. 


128 


The  source  of  the  Jordan  at  Banias  is  one  of  the  largest  springs  in  the 
world.  The  Jordan  is  rightly  named  the  "down-comer,"  for  in  its  wind- 
ing course  of  two  hundred  and  forty  miles  it  drops  from  the  mountains 
to  the  Dead  Sea,  nearly  thirteen  hundred  feet  below  sea-level 


Wo  need  an  escort  for  the  trip  over  the  barren  wastes  to  the  River 
Jordan,  for  Bedouin  brigands  still  occasionally  relieve  the  unwar\-  tour- 
ist of  his  valuables 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  DEAD  SEA  AND  THE  JORDAN 

THE  Jordan!  How  shall  I  make  you  see  it  as  it 
winds  its  way  through  this  great  gash  in  the 
thirsty  face  of  old  Mother  Earth? 
All  day  long  I  have  been  travelling  upon  its 
banks  in  the  lower  part  of  its  course.  I  have  visited  the 
ford  where  Joshua  crossed  with  his  army  of  Jews  when 
he  took  possession  of  Canaan;  have  stood  on  the  spot 
where  it  is  said  that  Jesus  was  baptized  of  John,  and  have 
gone  over  the  place  where  the  waters  were  parted  by  the 
cloak  of  Elijah.  Here  at  Jericho  I  am  within  a  short 
gallop  of  the  Dead  Sea,  into  which  the  Jordan  flows,  and 
sitting  on  the  steps  of  my  hotel  I  can  see  Mount  Nebo, 
where  Moses  stood  when  he  viewed  the  Promised  Land, 
which  he  was  not  to  enter.  In  former  travels  I  have 
seen  the  Jordan,  near  the  Sea  of  GaHlee,  and  have  been 
not  far  from  its  source  in  the  Lebanon  Mountains. 

The  Jordan  Valley  is  the  cellar  of  the  world.  It  is  a 
great  trench,  which  begins  a  thousand  or  more  feet  above 
the  sea  in  the  Lebanon  Mountains,  and  within  a  distance 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  as  the  crow  flies,  cuts  its 
way  down  to  thirteen  hundred  feet  below  sea  level,  where 
it  ends  in  the  Dead  Sea.  The  bottom  of  that  sea  is 
a  half  mile  below  the  surface  of  the  Mediterannean,  and 
in  Jericho,  where  I  am  writing,  we  are  almost  four  thou- 
sand feet  below  the  highest  point  in  Jerusalem.    There  is 

129 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  SYRIA 

no  other  part  of  the  earth  uncovered  by  water  where  for 
an  equal  distance  the  land  is  sunken  even  two  hundred 
feet  below  the  level  of  the  ocean.  This  is  the  strangest 
trough  of  the  world.  Though  often  associated  with  the 
idea  of  going  to  heaven,  the  Valley  of  the  Jordan  is  em- 
blematic of  hell.  Most  of  it  is  as  parched  as  the  dry  sands 
of  the  Sahara,  and  just  now  its  heat  is  as  torrid  as  Tophet. 
The  plain  over  which  I  rode  to-day  on  my  way  to  the 
river  was  covered  with  thorn  bushes.  The  only  green  I 
saw  after  leaving  the  irrigated  farms  about  Jericho  was 
that  bordering  the  gully  through  which  the  Jordan 
runs.  For  the  rest,  the  alkaline  earth  cut  up  by  the 
floods  into  castles  and  mounds,  makes  bare  gullies  and 
hills  of  all  sizes  and  shapes. 

The  mean  temperature  of  Jerusalem,  only  fourteen 
miles  away,  is  64°  Fahrenheit.  It  is  temperate  through- 
out the  year  and  snow  falls  there  in  the  winter.  The 
heat  here  is  as  great  as  that  of  the  centre  of  Nubia.  For 
six  months  in  the  year  the  mean  temperature  in  the 
Jordan  Valley  averages  100°  Fahrenheit. 

But  this  is  not  the  character  of  the  whole  course  of  the 
Jordan.  Let  me  give  you  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  river, 
or,  better,  let  us  suppose  we  have  taken  an  aeroplane  and 
are  going  from  its  source  in  the  Lebanon  Mountains  to 
where  it  loses  itself  in  the  great  sea  of  salt  below  here. 
It  rises  on  the  foot  of  Mount  Hermon,  whose  peak  is 
covered  with  snow  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  It  has 
two  or  three  different  sources.  One  is  near  Dan,  and 
higher  up  is  another  at  Banias,  near  the  spot  where  Christ 
said:  "Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  will  I  build  my 
Church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it." 

It  is  at  Banias  that  the  Jordan  has  its  chief  source.     It 

130 


THE  DEAD  SEA  AND  THE  JORDAN 

comes  from  a  cave  in  the  limestone  rock  which  is  now 
choked  up  with  stones,  but  out  of  which  the  water  flows 
in  a  great  volume,  cold,  sweet,  and  pure.  There  are  trees 
about  the  cave  and  the  stream  runs  through  a  beautiful 
park  down  to  Lake  Huleh,  which  is  only  seven  feet  above 
the  sea.  The  spring  of  Banias  has  always  been  noted  for 
its  sweetness  and  purity.  It  is  said  the  waters  and  cave 
were  formerly  dedicated  to  the  god  Pan,  and  that  from 
him  came  the  name  Banias,  or  Panias.  Greek  tablets 
have  been  found  near  by,  and  ruined  temples  and  columns 
show  that  the  place  was  once  the  site  of  a  considerable 
city.     It  has  now  only  a  mud  village  of  about  fifty  huts. 

Flying  down  to  Lake  Huleh,  we  see  a  marshy  catch 
basin  into  which  run  other  streams  and  from  which  the 
Jordan  flows  out.  There  is  little  activity  about  the  lake. 
Near  it  live  a  few  Bedouins  whose  only  business  seems  to 
be  making  mats  of  the  papyrus  reeds  growing  on  the 
shores.  These  are  the  waters  of  Merom  beside  which 
Joshua  and  his  men  of  war  battled  with  the  Canaanites 
for  the  Promised  Land. 

A  little  farther  down  is  the  main  crossing  to  Damascus. 
The  place  is  known  as  the  Bridge  of  Jacob's  Daughters, 
and  the  stream  is  here  on  the  level  of  the  sea.  It  drops 
six  hundred  and  eighty  feet  in  the  next  nine  miles,  falling 
in  a  series  of  twenty-seven  cascades. 

The  remainder  of  the  Jordan's  course  runs  between  the 
seas  of  life  and  death.  I  refer  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee  at 
the  north  and  the  Dead  Sea  at  the  south.  The  first, 
though  somewhat  brackish,  is  full  of  fish  and  surrounded 
by  verdure.  The  other  is  saltier  than  any  other  water  on 
earth,  and  so  bitter  and  poisonous  that  no  living  thing  can 
exist  within  it.     The  distance  between  these  two  seas  in  a 

131 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

straight  line  north  and  south  is  about  sixty-five  miles,  and 
the  slope  from  one  to  the  other  is  almost  twelve  feet  to 
the  mile,  or  over  six  hundred  and  sixty  feet.  Connecting 
them  is  this  great  trough  of  the  Jordan,  from  one  to  six- 
teen miles  wide.  Through  it  flows  the  sacred  river, 
twisting  about  like  a  corkscrew,  and  making  so  many 
turnings  that  it  flows  more  than  two  hundred  miles  in  an 
airline  distance  of  only  sixty  miles.  It  runs  with  great 
force  and  there  are  numerous  falls  where  electric  plants 
might  be  put  in.  The  land  on  each  side  might  be  turned 
into  rich  farms  if  it  could  only  have  water,  and  it  may  be 
that  the  good  fairy  of  electricity  will  some  time  bring 
the  dead  earth  to  life. 

There  are  some  farms  in  the  upper  part  of  the  course 
of  the  Jordan  and  there  is  a  sugar  plantation  half  way 
between  Galilee  and  the  Dead  Sea,  where  soldiers  work 
as  labourers.  There  are  small  fields  of  grain,  including 
millet,  wheat,  and  barley  here  and  there,  and  I  am  told 
that  rice  and  indigo  can  be  grown. 

Down  near  the  Dead  Sea  there  is  considerable  culti- 
vation on  the  Jericho  plain.  The  land  is  irrigated  by  a 
stream  from  the  mountains  of  Judea  and  by  the  spring 
of  Elisha.  It  is  cut  up  into  small  patches  covered  with 
orange  groves,  almond  orchards,  and  vineyards.  Much 
of  the  fruit  goes  up  to  Jerusalem.  There  are  also  fields 
of  eggplants,  tomatoes,  and  melons,  and  dates  could 
undoubtedly  be  grown.  All  the  way  from  here  to  old 
Jericho,  a  distance  of  about  three  miles,  are  orchards, 
vineyards,  and  gardens.  They  are  fenced  with  thorn 
bushes,  the  thorns  on  which  are  great  hooks  turning  in- 
ward. They  are  said  to  be  the  same  thorns  as  those  of 
which  the  crown  of  our  Saviour  was  made. 

132 


A  thick  mist  always  hangs  over  the  weird  waters  of  the  Dead  Sea,  while 
intense  heat  and  insect  pests  make  its  shores  almost  intolerable 


The  current  is  swift  in  this  place  and  we  hire  a  fisherman  to  take  us 
across  the  Jordan.  Under  Turkish  rule  the  river  was  considered  the 
personal  property  of  the  Sultan,  who  allowed  no  pleasure  craft  upon  it 


Bethlehem  k  a  maze  of  narrow,  winding  streets,  lined  with  box-like 
houses  having  flat  grass-grown  roofs  and  overhanging  windows.  Here 
Rachel  died  and  was  buried;  here  dwelt  Ruth  and  Boaz,  and  here  were 
born  David  and  the  Saviour 


THE  DEAD  SEA  AND  THE  JORDAN 

The  Jordan  is  not  navigable.  Along  its  whole  course 
it  has  no  wharves,  no  boats,  and  no  cities  or  villages  of 
any  account.  It  has  numerous  fords  but  no  bridges  of 
any  size.  The  wooden  bridge  about  six  miles  above  the 
Dead  Sea  is  a  toll  bridge,  with  fords  above  and  below  it. 
The  people  use  it  only  when  the  river  is  high.  At  other 
times  the  caravans  save  the  toll  by  passing  through  the 
fords. 

On  its  course  from  Galilee  to  the  Dead  Sea  the  river 
narrows  and  widens.  Now  it  is  a  swift,  black,  sullen 
current  flowing  between  ugly  mud  banks  covered  with 
refuse,  now  it  comes  close  to  the  mountains  which  border 
the  valley  on  either  side,  and  down  here  at  the  Dead  Sea 
it  reaches  a  width  of  five  hundred  feet,  being  so  shallow 
that  you  could  almost  wade  across  it. 

The  water  gathers  the  denudations  of  the  mountains. 
It  changes  in  colour  from  season  to  season,  and  in  the 
spring  spreads  out  in  floods  over  the  valley.  It  is  said 
that  the  parting  of  the  water  in  order  that  Joshua  and 
the  Israelites  might  pass  over  was  when  the  river  was 
at  its  highest. 

At  this  point  in  its  course  it  is  not  a  sweet  water.  It 
has  gathered  the  salts  from  this  arid  country  and  is  so 
full  of  organic  matter  that  those  who  carry  it  home  for 
baptisms  have  to  boil  and  filter  it  to  get  rid  of  its  dis- 
agreeable smell.  I  have  several  canteens  which  I  filled 
myself  from  the  stream,  or  rather  with  the  water  which  I 
brought  in  wine  bottles  from  the  Jordan  and  had  boiled 
and  filtered  before  it  was  put  into  the  cans.  If  I  ever 
have  a  grandchild  it  shall  be  baptized  with  this  water. 
I  bought  the  canteens  at  the  Jordan  Hotel  here  at  Jericho 
where  they  are  kept  on  hand  to  be  sold  to  the  tourists 

133 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

and  pilgrims.     A  vast  number  of  them  are  carried  away 
every  year. 

Let  us  go  from  Jericho  to  the  land  where  the  Moabites 
live  on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  It  is  only  a  few  miles 
away,  and  we  can  drive  there  in  a  carriage.  As  we  start, 
the  great  white  blazing  sun  is  climbing  the  blue  above 
Mount  Nebo,  and  the  faint  streak  of  the  Dead  Sea,  with 
the  haze  that  hangs  always  over  it,  can  be  seen  down  the 
valley.  Our  soldier  gallops  in  front  to  scare  off  the  Bed- 
ouins and  we  wind  our  way  lazily  in  and  out  through  the 
wheat  fields.  Leaving  these  we  enter  a  desert  on  the 
edge  of  which  stands  Gilgal,  where  the  Israelites  first  en- 
camped after  crossing  the  Jordan,  and  then  go  on  through 
thorny  scrub  among  gullies  and  hills  until  we  approach 
the  long  fringes  of  thicket  which  border  the  river.  There 
is  more  vegetation  as  we  near  this,  and  we  go  through 
the  bushes  until  we  come  to  a  creek  no  wider  than  a  city 
street.  It  looks  like  some  of  the  small  streams  of  our 
central  states.  I  know  many  such  in  Indiana,  Illinois, 
and  Ohio,  and  there  is  one  of  just  about  the  same  size 
which  goes  by  the  name  of  Goose  Creek  in  Loudoun 
County,  Virginia.  The  Rhine  and  the  Hudson,  the  Po- 
tomac, or  even  the  Shenandoah,  could  swallow  the  Jordan 
without  bulging,  and  just  now  it  is  so  small  that  in  the 
United  States  it  would  not  be  called  a  river  at  all. 

Nevertheless,  the  current  is  swift  at  this  place  and  we 
hire  a  fisherman  to  take  us  across.  He  charges  twenty- 
five  cents  for  the  boat,  and  for  this  rows  us  up  and  down 
stream  for  an  hour.  He  stands  up  as  he  rows  and  leans 
on  the  oars.  We  go  to  the  other  side  of  the  Jordan  and 
climb  out  through  the  willows.  How  quiet  it  is!  The 
only  sounds  are  the  ripple  of  the  stream  as  it  washes  the 

134 


THE  DEAD  SEA  AND  THE  JORDAN 

banks  and  the  songs  of  sweet-voiced  birds  in  the  trees  at 
our  left.  As  we  return  we  lean  over  and  bathe  our  hands 
in  the  Jordan.  The  water  is  cold.  When  taken  up  in  a 
bottle  it  looks  like  weak  milk.  We  taste  it.  It  is  acrid 
and  salty  and  we  spit  it  out  in  disgust. 

Here  Christ  is  said  to  have  been  baptized  of  John.  At 
this  place,  which  is  about  three  miles  from  the  Dead  Sea, 
the  water  at  ordinary  times  is  four  or  five  feet  deep.  Most 
of  the  pilgrims  come  here,  and  it  is  the  scene  of  tens  of 
thousands  of  baptisms  a  year.  The  chief  time  of  baptiz- 
ing is  Easter,  when  the  Russians  come  by  the  thousands 
and  when  other  members  of  the  Greek  Church  unite  with 
them  in  a  great  caravan  which  journeys  here  and  camps. 

Leaving  the  Jordan  we  make  our  way  down  the  valley 
to  the  Dead  Sea.  The  road  goes  through  the  thorn 
bushes  and  twists  about  through  the  barren  hills.  The 
land  is  salty  and  alkaline  and  all  nature  is  dead.  How 
hot  the  sun  is,  and  how  glaring!  Our  eyes  smart,  and 
horrid  flies  crawl  with  legs  of  glue  over  our  faces.  We 
try  to  brush  them  off  but  they  alight  and  bite  us  again. 

Now  we  are  on  the  shore  of  the  sea,  which  is  covered 
with  pebbles  and  driftwood.  It  looks  more  like  a  lake 
than  a  sea,  and  is  just  about  the  size  of  Lake  Geneva  in 
Switzerland.  It  is  only  fifty  miles  long  and  ten  miles  in 
width  and  we  can  see  from  one  side  of  it  to  the  other. 

The  Dead  Sea  lies  between  stony  mountains.  On  the 
east  are  the  desert  hills  of  Moab,  where  Ruth  was  born 
and  Moses  is  buried,  and  on  the  west  lie  those  of  Judea 
where  the  children  of  Israel  came  after  Moses  had  pointed 
out  to  them  the  Promised  Land.  There  are  openings  at 
the  north  and  south,  and  away  at  the  southwest  are  works 
for  evaporating  the  water  to  make  salt. 

135 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

The  Dead  Sea  has  no  outlet.  The  water  evaporates 
so  fast  that  it  is  usually  misty  here.  It  is  estimated  that 
over  six  million  tons  of  water  flow  into  it  daily.  Never- 
theless, its  level  changes  only  a  little  throughout  the  year, 
and  that  at  the  times  of  the  flood. 

Now  dip  up  some  of  the  water  in  your  hand  and  taste 
it.  It  burns  your  tongue  and  your  lips.  It  is  as  bitter 
as  gall.  If  you  drank  a  glass  of  it  you  would  probably 
die.  It  is  the  saltiest  water  on  earth.  If  you  will  take 
a  gallon  and  boil  it  down,  you  will  find  that  one  fourth  of 
the  contents  is  solid.  It  is  six  times  as  salty  as  the  water 
of  the  ocean,  and  a  cubic  mile  of  it  would  contain  nine 
hundred  million  tons  of  mineral  matter.  The  sum  is  so 
staggering  that  you  cannot  comprehend  it,  but  at  ninety 
tons  to  the  car  it  would  take  ten  million  cars  to  carry  that 
much,  and  if  your  cars  were  a  little  under  forty  feet  long 
the  train  required  for  the  load  would  reach  eighty  miles. 
There  is  asphalt  or  pitch  in  the  bottom  of  the  lake  and 
the  water  has  other  minerals  in  addition  to  salt.  Indeed, 
the  salt  proper  left  after  boiling  comprises  only  about 
7  per  cent,  of  the  whole. 

If  you  would  further  test  the  water,  take  an  egg  and 
drop  it  into  the  sea.  It  will  float,  leaving  one  third  of 
the  egg  above  the  surface.  A  fresh  egg  will  sink  in  fresh 
water,  and  we  break  our  egg  to  be  sure  it  is  fresh. 

Another  test.  Let  us  strip  off  our  clothing  and  go  in 
for  a  swim.  You  do  not  know  how  to  swim?  That 
makes  no  difference  in  this  salty  sea.  The  water  is  so 
heavy  you  could  not  sink  if  you  tried.  You  can  lie  on 
your  back  and  float  all  day  long.  You  can  stand  upright 
and  tread,  but  it  is  almost  impossible  to  maintain  such  a 
position.        Your  feet  have  a  tendency  to  fly  to  the  sur- 

136 


THE  DEAD  SEA  AND  THE  JORDAN 

face,  and  you  bob  up  and  down  like  "the  monkey  on  the 
stick."  Now  try  to  swim.  Your  feet  fly  out  of  the  water 
and  you  cannot  make  any  headway.  Now  let  us  wade 
out  and  let  the  sun  dry  our  skins.  We  feel  as  if  we  had 
been  painted  with  mucilage.  We  are  gummy  and  oily 
and  incrusted  with  salt.  We  were  scratched  as  we  came 
through  the  thorn  bushes  and  the  salt  got  into  the  wounds 
and  they  are  burning  like  fire.  We  shall  not  be  happy 
until  we  can  get  some  fresh  water  to  wash  off  the  salt. 

An  interesting  thing  about  the  Dead  Sea  is  the  fact 
that  on  its  shores  were  the  sites  of  the  ancient  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah,  the  two  towns  which  became  so  wicked  that 
the  Lord  rained  fire  and  brimstone  upon  them.  There  are 
said  to  be  sulphur  springs  in  the  country  about,  and  it 
may  have  been  a  volcano  which  caused  the  destruction. 

It  was  right  here  on  the  plain  of  the  Jordan  that  the 
nephew  of  Abraham  and  the  cousin  of  Ishmael  and  Isaac, 
the  good  man  Lot,  had  his  estate.  It  was  in  Sodom  that 
he  lived,  one  of  the  richest  of  its  citizens,  and  the  only 
just  man  in  the  city.  From  there  he  went  out  with  Mrs. 
Lot  and  the  two  girls.  And  it  is  said  to  be  at  the  south- 
west end  of  the  lake,  not  far  away,  that-  Madame  Lot 
turned  and  looked  back  and,  as  we  may  suppose,  longed 
for  the  fleshpots.  And  lo!  she  became  a  pillar  of  salt. 
There  are  still  deposits  of  rock-salt  at  that  end  of  the 
lake,  and  the  guides  now  show  the  remains  of  a  pillar 
which  they  say  was  once  Mrs.  Lot,  but  which  has  been 
licked  by  the  camels  until  it  has  almost  disappeared. 


137 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

BETHLEHEM 

DURING  my  several  trips  to  Palestine  I  have 
visited  Bethlehem,  where  our  Saviour  was  born, 
and  have  lived  for  days  in  Nazareth,  where  His 
boyhood  was  spent.  I  have  gone  over  much 
of  the  road  Joseph  and  Mary  followed  when  they  car- 
ried the  child  into  Egypt,  and  have  crossed  the  moun- 
tains of  Samaria  from  Galilee  to  Jerusalem,  where  He 
went  as  a  boy  of  twelve  and  was  found  teaching  the  doc- 
trine in  Solomon's  Temple. 

I  have  even  climbed  the  hills  and  gone  into  the  wilder- 
ness where  our  Lord  was  tempted  of  the  devil  after  those 
forty  days  of  hunger  and  thirst.  At  Capernaum  I  saw 
the  recently  excavated  marble  synagogue  where  some  of 
His  first  preaching  was  done.  I  have  climbed  to  the  top 
of  the  hill  above  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  where  He  delivered 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  have  picked  flowers  from 
the  rolling  green  sward  below,  where  the  miracle  of  the 
loaves  and  fishes  was  performed.  Not  far  from  that  place, 
on  the  opposite  shore,  may  be  seen  a  steep  hill  down  which 
rushed  the  swine  possessed  of  the  devils  our  Saviour  had 
cast  out  of  the  Gadarene  man.  I  have  been  in  Bethany, 
where  lived  Mary  and  Martha,  and  have  sat  under  the 
trees  in  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane. 

Many  of  these  places  are  about  the  same  as  they  were 
when  our  Saviour  was  alive.     Some  have  been  covered 

138 


BETHLEHEM 

with  churches  and  convents,  but  the  warring  sects  of 
Christians  have  not  been  able  to  change  the  bright  sky. 
Nature  is  the  same  now  as  it  was  then.  The  same  flow- 
ers bloom  and  the  same  birds  sing.  Besides,  it  is  not  so 
long,  after  all,  since  Jesus  was  born  in  Bethlehem.  The 
average  lifetime  of  a  man  is  not  much  more  than  was  that 
of  our  Saviour.  He  lived  thirty-three  years.  It  would 
take  only  fifty-eight  such  lifetimes  to  cover  the  period 
between  now  and  the  birth  of  Christ.  Each  of  us  has  a 
relative  who  is,  perhaps,  sixty-five  years  old.  The  lives 
of  thirty  such  men  would,  if  joined  together,  reach  back 
to  the  days  of  King  Herod. 

We  shall  take  carriages  for  our  trip  from  Jerusalem  to 
Bethlehem.  We  start  at  the  Jaffa  Gate,  next  David's 
Tower,  on  the  top  of  Mount  Zion,  near  where,  it  is 
claimed,  the  Crucifixion  took  place.  The  gate  was  widened 
by  the  breach  in  the  wall  made  in  honour  of  Kaiser  Wil- 
helm  of  Germany,  so  all  sorts  of  vehicles  can  now  go 
through  it.  As  we  leave  the  gate  we  pass  coffee  houses 
where  people  of  a  dozen  different  nationalities  are  drink- 
ing, go  by  the  railroad  station,  where  a  puffing  loco- 
motive is  just  in  from  the  Mediterranean,  skirt  the  valley 
of  Hinnom,  in  which  is  the  Pool  of  Gihon,  where  David 
was  anointed,  and  a  little  later  on  stop  near  the  village 
where  King  Saul  was  crowned. 

The  road  is  excellent.  It  is  of  hard  limestone  walled  on 
each  side  by  limestone  fences  and  backed  by  green  fields 
now  covered  with  the  dust  of  the  highway.  The  traffic 
is  constant,  so  that  the  air  is  white  with  dust.  It  fills 
our  eyes,  mouths,  and  nostrils,  and  makes  us  look  like 
millers.  We  cover  our  eyes  with  smoked  glasses  to  keep 
out  the  glare.     The  road  is  dazzling  white,  the  fences  are 

139 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

white,  a  white  dust  covers  the  green  of  the  fields.  As 
we  are  going  toward  the  south,  the  sun  is  full  in  our 
faces.  It  is  hot,  although  a  cold  wind  is  blowing  over 
these  hills  of  Judea  which  whirls  the  dust  around  and 
sends  columns  of  it  into  the  air. 

Soon  after  leaving  Jerusalem  we  cross  a  depression 
carpeted  with  green,  which  is  known  as  the  Valley  of 
Roses.  Farther  on  are  olive  groves,  and  as  we  near  Beth- 
lehem there  are  great  fields  of  green.  At  the  left  we  can 
see  the  plain  where  the  young  widow  Ruth  garnered 
wheat  for  old  Boaz  and  thus  got  food  and  a  husband. 

All  the  way  from  Jerusalem  to  Bethlehem  crops  are  grow- 
ing. There  are  signs  of  increased  cultivation,  and  every 
bit  of  available  land  is  being  set  out  in  orchards  and 
gardens.  I  went  over  the  same  road  twenty-odd  years 
ago.  Then  the  country  was  bare  rocks  with  bits  of  grass 
here  and  there.  To-day  the  land  is  divided  into  fields. 
The  surface  rocks  have  been  gathered  together  and  laid 
up  in  fences  as  high  as  my  head.  The  cleared  land  is 
now  planted  in  wheat,  corn,  and  barley.  New  olive 
orchards  are  rising,  while  many  of  the  old  ones  still 
stand.  The  trunks  of  the  old  trees  are  knotted  and 
gnarled,  but  the  leaves  are  of  green  dusted  with  silver, 
and  I  am  told  they  still  bear  fruit.  I  photographed  one 
tree  not  more  than  thirty  feet  high  which  had  a  trunk 
as  thick  as  a  hogshead  and  branches  which  shaded  a  large 
tract  of  ground.  The  soil  of  Palestine  is  as  fertile  to-day 
as  it  was  when  Joshua  led  the  Israelites  across  it,  and 
barring  the  fences,  I  doubt  not  the  landscape  is  about 
the  same  now  as  it  was  when  Christ  was  born. 

Every  bit  of  the  way  from  Jerusalem  to  Bethlehem  is 
historic  ground.    Over  this  same  road  Abraham  travelled 

140 


Christmas  is  long  drawn  out  at  Bethlehem.  First  come  the  Latin 
ceremonies  on  December  25;  fourteen  days  later  the  Greek  Church  cele- 
brates; and  thirteen  days  later  comes  the  Armenian  feast 


Young  women  in  Bethlehem  proudly  wear  their  dowries — necklaces 
and  fillets  of  coins,  and  beautifully  embroidered  shawls,  which  ma\'  mean 
over  a  year  of  painstaking  needlework 


BETHLEHEM 

to  Mount  Moriah.  Along  it  came  the  Wise  Men  of  the 
East  following  the  Star  on  their  way  to  the  stable  where 
Jesus  was  born.  They  had  called  upon  crafty  King 
Herod  at  Jerusalem  to  ask  about  the  King  of  the  Jews. 
He  had  told  them  to  find  where  He  was  born,  that  he 
might  come  and  worship  Him.  The  road  goes  by  a  well 
where  it  is  said  these  Wise  Men  stopped  to  drink.  It  is 
known  as  the  "Well  of  the  Magi,"  and  is  near  an  olive 
grove  on  the  east  side  of  the  road.  It  is  covered  with  a 
marble  slab  as  big  around  as  a  cart  wheel  with  a  hole 
cut  in  the  centre  through  which  the  water  is  raised  by  a 
bucket  and  rope.  The  stone  is  polished  by  the  kisses 
of  pilgrims. 

The  story  is  that  the  Wise  Men  as  they  trudged  along 
in  the  gathering  twilight  sat  down  by  this  well  to  rest. 
When  they  stooped  forward  to  draw  some  water  to 
drink,  they  saw  reflected  in  its  mirror-like  surface  the 
guiding  Star.  They  looked  toward  the  heavens,  and 
then,  in  the  words  of  the  Scripture: 

Lo,  the  star  which  they  saw  in  the  East  went  before  them,  until 
it  came  and  stood  over  where  the  young  child  was. 

It  was  not  far  from  here  that  I  caught  my  first 
sight  of  the  field  where  the  shepherds  lay  when  the 
angel  and  the  heavenly  host  announced  Christ's  birth 
to  them.  It  is  said  to  be  the  field  of  Boaz  upon 
which  Ruth  gleaned  her  wheat.  It  lies  across  the  valley 
to  the  east  of  Bethlehem.  There  is  a  little  village  in 
front  of  it,  and  a  part  of  the  field  is  covered  by  an  olive 
grove.  I  saw  the  sheep  feeding  upon  it,  and  as  I  rode 
to  Bethlehem  I  passed  flocks  of  them  being  driven  to 
the  Jerusalem   markets.    They   were   of   the   fat-tailed 

141 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

variety,  some  of  their  tails  weighing,  I  venture,  fifteen 
pounds  each.  The  drivers  were  kind-eyed  and  gentle 
in  their  manners  and  as  they  went  by  us  they  cried  out 
Neharak  said,  or  "May  thy  day  be  happy!"  To  this  we 
replied  Neharak  said  umuharak  which  in  Arabic  means 
"May  thy  day  also  be  happy  and  blessed." 

The  shepherds  were  dressed  in  long  gowns  and  wore 
handkerchiefs  about  their  heads  as  turbans.  Some  of 
them  wore  sheepskins,  and  it  is  probable  that  they  were 
clad  much  the  same  as  those  who  "came  with  haste" 
and  found  the  infant  Jesus  lying  in  a  manger.  There  is 
a  chapel  now  in  the  Field  of  the  Shepherds,  and  for  cen- 
turies a  church  and  a  monastery  stood  on  the  spot. 

Soon  after  leaving  Jerusalem  we  pass  a  hill  on  the  left 
of  the  road,  where,  the  guide  says,  stood  the  building  in 
which  Judas  Iscariot  sold  his  Lord  for  thirty  pieces  of 
silver.  Not  far  away  is  an  old  olive  tree  upon  which 
the  pilgrims  are  told  Judas  hanged  himself  in  his  remorse 
after  the  Crucifixion. 

Going  onward  about  four  miles  from  Jerusalem  we 
come  to  a  building  which  has  just  received  a  fresh  coat 
of  whitewash.  It  is  known  as  the  Tomb  of  Rachel, 
and  covers  the  spot  where  she  is  said  to  be  buried.  Not 
far  from  it  David  had  his  fight  with  Goliath,  the  ten-foot 
giant  of  the  Scriptures.  I  am  not  sure  as  to  the  locality, 
but  there  are  millions  of  stones  there  to-day,  and  plenty 
of  ammunition  for  the  slings  of  an  army  of  Davids.  In- 
deed, there  is  hardly  a  field  on  the  hills  of  Judea  which 
is  not  covered  with  stones  of  one  size  or  another,  and  the 
shepherds  use  slings  to  this  day. 

And  speaking  of  stones  reminds  me  of  the  Field  of 
Peas,  which  lies  not  far  from  Bethlehem.     It  is  a  tract 

142 


BETHLEHEM 

on  the  side  of  a  hill  where  the  stones  are  so  thick  that 
if  it  were  planted  to  corn  you  would  have  to  carry  earth 
to  cover  the  grains.  As  the  story  goes,  our  Lord  was 
passing  by  here  when  He  saw  a  man  sowing  grain.  He 
stopped  and  asked  him  what  he  was  sowing.  The  man 
replied  "stones."  And  thereupon  the  seed  peas  in  his  bag 
turned  to  stones,  and  all  that  he  had  sown  did  the 
same.  Some  of  the  stones  now  on  the  field  are  gathered 
up  and  peddled  to  pilgrims  as  relics. 

I  had  one  such  pedlar  follow  me  half  the  way  from 
Jerusalem  to  Bethlehem.  He  was  a  turbaned  Syrian 
boy  on  a  donkey,  who  had  to  gallop  to  keep  up  with  my 
carriage.  To  this  the  donkey  objected,  and  the  boy  kept 
him  up  to  his  work  with  a  stick  as  long  as  a  husking  peg 
and  equally  sharp.  He  inserted  this  under  the  saddle, 
behind  him,  and  then  using  it  as  a  lever,  pulled  on  the 
other  end  of  the  peg,  forcing  its  sharp  point  into  the 
animal's  flesh.  At  every  such  pull  the  donkey  kicked 
up  its  heels  and  increased  its  speed,  while  the  rider  bobbed 
up  and  down,  and  his  long,  full-trousered  legs  stood 
straight  out. 

Climbing  the  hill,  we  come  into  the  town  of  Bethlehem. 
We  find  ourselves  in  a  maze  of  box-like,  one-,  two-,  and 
three-story  limestone  houses.  They  stand  close  to  the 
edges  of  winding  streets,  which  are  here  and  there  arched 
over  to  shut  out  the  sun.  The  town,  which  has  about 
fifteen  thousand  inhabitants,  is  probably  ten  times  as 
large  as  it  was  when  Christ  was  born.  Its  chief  revenue 
comes  from  its  association  with  the  Christian  religion 
and  the  fact  that  Christ  was  born  here.  There  are  thou- 
sands of  tourists  who  visit  the  birthplace  of  the  Saviour 
every  year,  and  the  chief  business  of  the  Bethlehemites 

143 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

is  making  rosaries,  crosses,  and  articles  of  wood  and 
mother-of-pearl  for  sale  to  the  pilgrims  as  well  as  for 
shipment  abroad.  I  was  surprised  to  learn  that  the 
mother-of-pearl  used  is  imported  from  the  United  States, 
where  it  is  known  as  "pearl  waste."  Shells  are  carved 
and  sold  to  tourists  in  Jerusalem  and  elsewhere,  and  the 
Palestine  beads,  so  largely  used  as  rosaries,  both  by 
Mohammedans  and  Christians,  are  made  here.  These 
beads  are  filed  out  of  oyster  shells  until  they  are  the  right 
size.  Holes  are  then  drilled  in  them  and  they  are  polished 
by  shaking  them  about  in  crockery  vessels  with  a  little 
water.  After  this  they  are  treated  in  a  weak  solution 
of  nitric  acid,  polished  again,  and  strung  on  cords  of  silk 
or  wire.  Crosses  and  hearts  are  made  of  mother-of-pearl, 
and  sometimes  a  little  image  of  the  Saviour  is  attached 
to  the  rosary.  Much  of  this  work  is  done  by  women  and 
girls,  who  receive  from  twelve  to  twenty-five  cents  a  day. 
It  is  estimated  that  the  total  production  of  such  wares 
sells  for  in  the  neighbourhood  of  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  a  year,  and  that  something  like  thirty  thousand 
dollars'  worth  are  shipped  to  the  United  States  annually. 
The  grotto  or  cave  in  which  Christ  was  born  is  in  the 
very  heart  of  the  Bethlehem  of  to-day.  There  is  an  open 
square  in  front  of  it  surrounded  by  stores  and  schools,  and 
a  great  church  known  as  the  Church  of  the  Nativity  has 
been  built  over  it.  The  church  is  entered  by  a  door  which 
looks  like  a  square  hole  cut  through  a  stone  wall.  It  is 
so  low  that  all  who  enter,  even  the  children,  must  stoop. 
As  I  started  to  go  in  I  saw  a  Bethlehem  woman  with  a 
baby  in  her  arms  standing  outside.  The  baby  was  small, 
and  I  could  imagine  the  woman  as  Mary  and  the  child 
as  the  Saviour.     Taking  a  coin  out  of  my  pocket,  I  asked 

144 


Ropes  used  by  generations  of  drawers  of  water  have  furrowed  the 
stones  of  Jacob's  Well  where  Christ  talked  with  the  woman  of  Samaria. 
Over  it  the  Greeks  have  recently  erected  a  stone  chapel 


There  are  left  in  Palestine  less  than  two  hundred  Samaritans,  whose 
High  Priest  guards  the  ancient  scroll  of  the  first  five  books  of  the  Bible, 
which  they  claim  is  the  original  version  of  the  Pentateuch 


BETHLEHEM 

her  to  pose  for  my  camera.  She  did  so,  carrying  the 
child  into  the  sun.  Near  by,  in  the  shadow  of  the  church, 
was  a  bearded  Syrian  in  turban  and  gown,  and  at  first  I 
thought  he  might  make  a  good  Joseph  to  pose  with  my 
Mary.  Upon  bringing  him  into  the  light,  however,  I  found 
that  he  was  a  beggar  and  would  not  fit  into  the  picture, 
so  I  enriched  him  with  a  gift  of  five  cents  and  sent  him 
back  to  his  seat. 

One  part  of  the  Church  of  the  Nativity  is  controlled 
by  the  Armenians  and  Latins,  another  by  the  Greeks, 
and  there  are  soldiers  on  hand  to  keep  the  worshippers  in 
order.  These  two  sects  fight  for  the  right  to  take  care  of 
the  birthplace  of  Jesus,  and  not  long  ago  a  controversy 
arose  over  which  should  clean  one  of  the  windows.  Both 
the  Armenians  and  the  Greeks  were  quarrelling  over  it 
when  the  Mohammedan  authorities  came  in  and  forbade 
either  sect  to  touch  it.  Therefore,  that  window  remained 
unwashed. 

The  stable  is  under  the  church.  It  is  reached  by  a 
winding  staircase  going  down  into  a  cave  floored  with 
marble  about  twelve  feet  wide  and  forty  feet  long.  Thirty- 
two  lamps  burn  day  and  night  within  it.  Set  in  the 
marble  pavement  is  a  star  over  which  there  is  an  inscrip- 
tion stating  that  on  that  spot  the  Virgin  Mary  gave 
birth  to  Christ.  This  star  is  held  down  by  nails.  Once 
the  Armenian  who  had  the  right  to  clean  it  was  working 
away  when  he  knocked  off  the  head  of  one  of  the  nails. 
This  caused  a  great  commotion.  The  Greeks,  Latins, 
and  Armenians  began  to  fight  over  it,  and  the  governor  of 
Jerusalem,  to  settle  the  dispute,  called  in  a  blacksmith  to 
drill  out  the  old  nail  and  put  in  a  new  one.  The  black- 
smith proved  to  be  a  member  of  one  of  the  quarrelling 

145 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

sects.  In  order  to  settle  the  trouble  the  governor  called 
in  a  gypsy,  who  had  no  religious  standing  whatever,  and 
he  replaced  the  nail  without  opposition. 

At  one  side  of  the  cave  is  a  recess  called  the  Chapel 
of  the  Manger,  where  it  is  said  the  Saviour  was  laid  after 
His  birth.  The  manger  is  of  brown-and-white  marble, 
and  a  wax  doll  lies  in  it  representing  the  Christ.  The 
Latins  claim  that  they  have  the  original  manger  in  one 
of  their  cathedrals  in  Rome.  It  is  shown  every  Christ- 
mas. 

As  I  stood  in  the  stable  not  far  from  the  manger,  a  party 
of  twenty  Franciscan  monks  came  in  and  knelt  down  and 
sang  a  service  concerning  the  Nativity.  They  were 
burly  men  with  shaved  heads  and  long  beards.  They 
wore  long  gowns  and  their  heads  and  feet  were  bare. 
They  knelt  upon  the  floor  as  they  sang,  and  at  the  end 
each  bowed  down  and  kissed  the  star  marking  the  spot 
of  Christ's  birth. 

This  Bethlehem  grotto,  if  indeed  it  was  ever  used  as  a 
stable,  has  been  so  changed  by  the  decorations  that  it  is 
impossible  to  conceive  it  to  be  the  place  of  the  Nativity. 
It  is  probably  a  fraud,  as  is  also  the  well  at  one  side  of 
the  crypt  where  the  water  is  said  to  have  burst  forth 
from  the  naked  rock  for  the  use  of  the  Holy  Family.  I 
looked  down  into  this  well.  It  is  said  that  the  star,  that 
guided  the  Magi  fell  into  it,  but  that  it  is  only  visible  to 
the  eye  of  a  virgin. 

I  tried  in  vain  to  imagine  the  scenes  of  Christ's  birth. 
The  decorations  were  out  of  all  keeping  with  the  place, 
and  the  warring  Christians  prevented  reverent  thought. 
I  got  a  better  idea  by  going  into  some  of  the  actual 
stables  which  are  in  use  in  Palestine  to-day,  and  which 

146 


BETHLEHEM 

are  just  about  the  same  now  as  they  were  nineteen  hun- 
dred years  ago.  I  remember  one  such  stable  near  Je- 
rusalem. It  was  a  cave  with  a  floor  of  rough  stone, 
divided  into  chambers  or  stalls,  which  opened  into  a  sort 
of  court.  There  were  men  and  women  sleeping  on  the 
floors  of  the  courts,  with  the  animals  eating  out  of  their 
stone  boxes  or  mangers  about  them.  The  people  had  no 
bedclothing  except  their  blankets,  and  ate  their  meals 
on  the  floor.  It  was  on  such  a  floor  that  Mary  had  to 
lie,  because  there  was  no  room  at  the  inn,  and  the  manger 
in  which  the  baby  Christ  lay  was  probably  a  hollowed- 
out  stone  box  such  as  those  in  which  the  donkeys  were 
eating.  Within  this  stable  I  saw  a  Bedouin  woman  with 
a  sleeping  baby  on  her  knee.  She  had  just  been  feeding 
the  child  and  one  breast  peeped  out  between  the  folds  of 
her  coarse,  rough  gown.  Her  arms  were  bare  to  the 
shoulders  and  there  were  bracelets  upon  her  wrists.  Her 
face  was  as  sweet  as  that  of  any  Madonna  I  have  ever 
seen  upon  canvas,  and  her  baby,  still  in  its  swaddling 
clothes,  looked  as  pure  and  as  innocent  as  the  most 
famous  representation  of  the  infant  Christ. 

It  was  in  such  stable  that  the  Wise  Men  knelt  and  pre- 
sented their  gifts.  It  was  there  that  the  shepherds  came, 
and  it  was  there  that  our  Redeemer  first  saw  the  light  of 
this  world. 

Here  at  Bethlehem  occurred  the  slaughter  of  the  in- 
nocents. King  Herod  had  learned  that  the  Saviour  was 
born,  and  he  thought  that  if  this  infant  King  of  the  Jews 
still  lived  at  Bethlehem  he  would  make  sure  of  His  death. 
So  his  soldiers  killed  all  the  children  under  two  years  of 
age.  In  a  place  here,  which  the  guides  tell  you  was  used 
for  storing  the  bodies,  there  are  oil  paintings  horribly 

147 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

done  depicting  the  killing.  Bethlehem  was  so  small  that 
it  must  have  been  diificult  to  hide  the  infant  Christ 
from  the  men  sent  by  King  Herod  to  search  for  Him,  and 
it  is  no  wonder  that  Joseph  and  Mary  took  the  Holy 
Child  and  fled  with  Him  to  Egypt. 

The  Bethlehem  of  to-day  has  entirely  recovered  from 
the  massacre  of  Herod.  Its  streets  swarm  with  babies 
many  of  whom  are  not  as  clean  as  they  should  be.  There 
are  many  older  children  as  well,  and  all  howl  for  bak- 
sheesh. The  Bethlehemites  are  noted  for  their  beauty, 
especially  the  girls,  who  are  fair-skinned  and  bright-eyed. 
Their  plump,  well-rounded  forms  are  clad  in  long  gowns 
of  white  linen  so  beautifully  embroidered  in  silk  that 
one  dress  requires  many  months'  work.  The  main  part 
of  their  costume  is  much  like  a  lady's  nightgown.  The 
gown  falls  to  the  feet,  being  open  at  the  front  in  a  narrow 
slit  as  far  down  as  the  breast.  Over  the  gowns  they 
wear  sleeveless  coats  of  dark  red  stripes  and  cover  their 
heads  with  shawls  of  linen  embroidered  in  silk.  Each 
girl  has  necklaces  of  coins  and  a  headdress  decorated  with 
coins  of  silver  or  gold.  They  do  not  cover  their  faces,  and 
their  features  are  usually  refined.  They  are  very  intelli- 
gent, and  in  trading  with  them  1  find  that  they  generally 
get  the  best  of  the  bargain. 


148 


The  Samaritans  dress  in  white  for  the  Feast  of  the  Passover  on  their 
holy  hill  of  Mt.  Gerizim,  where  lambs  are  killed  as  in  the  days  of  Aaron. 
They  are  very  poor  and  greatly  despised  by  the  orthodox  Jews 


Pulling  tares  from  the  wheat  is  the  children's  task.        If  the\-  arc  not 
removed  the  bread  will  be  bitter 


The  camel  blubbers  and  bawls  as  his  hair  is  clipped  off  to  make  tents  for 

his  master 


CHAPTER   XIX 

AMONG   THE    SAMARITANS 

I  HAVE  just  had  an  interview  with  a  lineal  descend- 
ant of  Aaron,  the  brother  of  Moses.  I  refer  to 
Jacob,  the  high  priest  of  the  Samaritans.  He  be- 
longs to  the  tribe  of  the  Levites,  who  in  ancient 
times  were  at  the  head  of  the  priesthood,  and  he  claims 
a  genealogical  tree  reaching  from  that  day  to  this.  His 
family  has  lived  in  Palestine  for  more  than  three  thousand 
years,  and  high  priest  has  succeeded  high  priest  until 
this  man  took  the  position  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  succeed- 
ing his  childless  uncle.  He  is  now  almost  eighty,  and  he 
looks,  I  imagine,  as  Aaron  and  Moses  may  have  looked  in 
the  latter  part  of  their  lives.  Over  six  feet  tall,  he  has 
the  face  and  form  of  a  prophet.  His  long  beard  falls 
down  upon  his  chest  and  his  scholarly  face  is  refined  and 
spiritual  looking. 

I  met  Jacob  here  at  Nablus  on  the  site  of  old  Shechem, 
within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  well  where  Christ  talked 
with  the  woman  of  Samaria.  It  is  not  far  from  a  farm 
which  Abraham  owned,  and  about  on  the  spot  where 
Joshua  gathered  together  the  tribes  of  Israel  and  read 
them  the  law  of  Moses. 

Our  conversation  took  place  in  the  heart  of  the  city  in 
the  synagogue  of  the  Samaritans.  I  had  to  go  through 
vaulted  passageways  and  cave-like  streets  to  reach  it. 
I  had  an  interpreter  with  me,  and  as  we  talked  the  high 

•49 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

priest  showed  me  what  he  said  were  the  original  parch- 
ments of  the  five  books  of  Moses  as  they  were  written  by 
Abou,  the  son  of  Ben  Hassan,  the  son  of  Eleazar,  who, 
you  remember,  was  one  of  the  two  sons  of  Aaron  by 
EHsheba,  his  wife.  The  high  priest  tells  me  that  these 
five  manuscripts  were  written  only  twelve  years  after  the 
Israelites  came  into  the  Promised  Land,  and  that  they 
are  now  nearly  four  thousand  years  old.  The.y  are  the 
oldest  Bible  manuscripts  in  existence.  They  are  written 
in  the  Hebrew  of  the  times  of  Moses,  upon  long  sheets  of 
parchment  about  two  feet  in  width.  The  scrolls  are 
rolled  upon  three  rods  each  tipped  with  a  silver  knob  as 
big  as  a  teacup,  and  they  can  be  rolled  and  unrolled  as 
they  are  read.  The  ink  is  still  clear  and  the  letters  are 
distinct  although  the  parchment  is  yellow  with  age. 
The  manuscript  is  treasured  by  the  Samaritans,  being 
kept  in  a  brass  case  inlaid  with  gold.  It  is  said  to  have 
been  dug  up  about  three  hundred  years  ago,  and  has 
formed  a  subject  of  controversy  among  oriental  scholars. 
The  Samaritans  believe  that  it  was  written  by  the  grand- 
son of  Aaron,  as  the  high  priest  here  claims;  but  the  Jews 
reject  it  as  false,  denouncing  the  Samaritans  as  pagan  out- 
casts from  the  tribes  of  the  Children  of  Israel. 

I  was  surprised  to  find  that  there  were  any  Samaritans 
living.  I  had  supposed  that  they  had  been  swallowed  up 
by  the  people  of  other  faiths.  I  find,  however,  that  there 
are  about  two  hundred  in  Nablus,  and  that  they  practise 
the  same  religion  as  they  did  when  Christ  came. 

They  annually  celebrate  the  feasts  of  the  Passover  and 
Pentecost  on  Mount  Gerizim.  These  feasts  are  difi'erent 
from  those  of  the  latter-day  Jews.  At  the  time  of  Jesus 
the   Feast  of  the  Passover  was  eaten   reclining  and  as 

150 


AMONG  THE  SAMARITANS 

though  at  the  end  of  a  journey  rather  than  at  the  begin- 
ning. The  Samaritans  eat  their  Passover  with  their  shoes 
bound  upon  their  feet  and  staves  in  their  hand  as  though 
ready  to  start  out  on  their  wanderings  in  the  wilderness. 

They  do  this  on  the  top  of  the  mountain,  going  up  there 
en  masse  and  camping  in  tents.  They  smear  the  blood 
of  the  sacrifice  upon  the  tents  to  commemorate  the  pas- 
sage of  the  angel  of  death  over  the  houses  of  Israel.  They 
dress  in  white  garments  and  kill  the  animals  which  are 
burnt  according  to  the  methods  in  use  when  Aaron 
lived.  The  sacrifice  consists  of  buck  lambs  each  of  which 
is  carefully  examined  that  it  may  be  without  wound  or 
blemish.  At  a  given  signal  the  throats  of  the  lambs  are 
cut,  and  at  the  same  time  some  of  the  blood  is  caught  in 
tin  tubs  and  smeared  over  the  tents.  As  the  blood  flows 
the  people  shout  out  again  and  again  the  words  "There 
is  but  one  God."  At  the  same  time  there  is  a  service, 
beginning  with  a  hymn  praising  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob,  and  followed  by  a  prayer  of  thanksgiving. 

The  meat  for  the  sacrifice  is  cooked  over  a  fire  in  the 
earth.  As  soon  as  the  animals  are  killed  they  are  scalded 
and  the  wool  is  pulled  off.  The  entrails  are  removed  and 
salted.  A  pole  is  thrust  through  each  lamb,  and  it  is 
laid  on  the  hot  coals  of  a  fire  made  in  a  trench.  The  meat 
is  then  covered  with  brush  and  earth.  As  it  cooks,  the 
people  continue  to  pray,  and  keep  on  praying  until  the 
sunset  approaches.  At  ten  minutes  after  sunset  they  be- 
gin to  eat  the  meat,  throwing  the  bones  into  the  fire  with- 
out breaking  them. 

In  my  talk  with  the  high  priest  he  contended  that  the 
Samaritans  were  the  only  true  Israelites,  and  spoke  of 
the  prophet  Samuel  as  a  sorcerer.     He  paid  his  respects  to 

151 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

the  Jews  in  no  measured  terms.  He  gave  me  a  little  book 
he  had  written  concerning  the  religion  of  the  Samaritans, 
and  at  the  close  was  by  no  means  averse  to  a  present  of 
silver  for  which  he  thanked  me  in  a  dignified  way.  After 
I  returned  to  my  camp  on  the  outside  of  Nablus  some  of 
his  followers  brought  me  his  photograph  and  a  model  of 
the  five  books  of  Moses  which  they  offered  to  sell  for  a 
song.  The  Samaritans  are  exceedingly  poor  and  are  de- 
spised by  both  Moslems  and  Jews. 

it  was  at  Jacob's  Well,  not  far  from  Nablus,  that 
Christ  met  the  Samaritan  woman  and  told  her  of  the  water 
of  which,  if  one  drinketh,  he  shall  never  thirst,  but  there 
"shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into  ever- 
lasting life."  You  will  find  the  story  in  the  fourth  chap- 
ter of  St.  John.  This  well  is  one  of  the  holy  sites  of 
Palestine  about  which  there  can  be  no  doubt.  The 
village  of  Sychar  corresponds  to  the  village  of  Askar, 
which  stands  on  Mount  Ebal,  perhaps  a  thousand  feet 
away  from  the  well  where  the  Samaritan  woman  lived. 
The  well  itself  lies  just  below  the  road  from  Jerusalem. 
I  went  through  an  olive  orchard  to  reach  it.  It  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  wall  and  is  in  the  middle  of  a  garden  now 
owned  by  the  Greek  Church,  which  has  made  it  a  resting 
place  for  pilgrims.  Over  it  they  have  built  a  stone  chapel 
where  services  are  held  several  times  every  day. 

Some  of  the  priests  went  with  us  down  the  steps  to  the 
well.  It  lies  right  in  the  floor  of  the  chapel  and  is  about 
three  feet  in  diameter,  built  up  with  stones.  One  of  the 
monks  brought  a  pan  tied  to  a  rope  in  such  a  way  that 
it  remained  level.  Upon  this  he  placed  a  lighted  candle 
and  then  slowly  lowered  it  into  the  well.  It  descended 
perhaps  sixty  feet  before  it  came  to  the  water.     The  sill 

152 


AMONG  THE  SAMARITANS 

of  the  well  is  of  marble  and  shows  the  marks  of  the  ropes 
which  for  ages  have  been  let  down  into  it.  It  is  some 
distance  above  the  floor  and  may  have  been  the  original 
stone  upon  which  Christ  sat  at  that  weary  hour  of  noon. 

Jacob's  Well  has  been  known  and  visited  by  pilgrims 
for  many  years.  It  probably  used  to  be  even  with  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  but  the  debris  and  earth-washings 
from  the  mountains  near  by  have  filled  up  the  valley,  and 
it  is  now  considerably  below  the  present  ground  level. 
Excavations  have  uncovered  in  the  garden  the  remains 
of  a  church  which  was  built  over  the  well  some  fifteen 
hundred  years  ago.  1  found  immense  granite  columns 
lying  in  the  garden  as  well  as  many  pieces  of  the  stone 
wall  of  the  church. 

While  I  was  here  a  party  of  travellers  conducted  by  one 
of  the  great  tourist  agencies  arrived.  They  were  Amer- 
icans "doing"  the  Holy  Land  at  so  much  per  day,  and 
they  were  bound  to  get  the  worth  of  their  money.  One 
I  shall  never  forget.  He  had  such  a  gigantic  frame  that 
I  shall  call  him  Goliath.  When  the  party  went  down  to 
the  well  the  services  in  the  chapel  had  just  begun,  and 
after  pointing  out  the  hole  in  the  floor,  the  guide  brought 
them  out.  As  they  came  into  the  churchyard  1  heard 
Goliath  remark: 

"  I  ain't  satisfied." 

"About  what?"  said  the  guide. 

"I  ain't  satisfied  about  that  well.  How  do  I  know 
there's  a  well  there?" 

"You  saw  it,"  said  the  guide. 

"Naw,  I  only  saw  a  hole  in  the  floor.  How  do  1  know 
there's  a  well?  How  do  I  know  it  has  water?  I  tell  you 
I   ain't  satisfied.     Here   I   come  five  thousand  miles  to 

153 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

see  Jacob's  Well,  and  how  can   I   prove  that   I've  saw 
it?" 

The  man  protested  so  much  that  the  guide  took  him 
back,  stopped  the  service,  and  had  them  let  down  the 
candle.  Further  than  that,  he  brought  up  some  of  the 
water  which  Goliath  drank  at  a  gulp.  I  have  run  across 
this  huge  doubting  Thomas  before  on  the  trip.  He 
would  not  believe  in  the  spot  where  our  Lord  was  bap- 
tized in  the  Jordan,  saying  that  the  banks  were  too  steep, 
and  that  if  he  couldn't  crawl  down  them  no  one,  not 
even  John  the  Baptist,  could  do  so. 

It  took  me  just  one  day  to  come  from  Jerusalem  to 
Shechem.  My  outfit  was  a  three-horse  team  harnessed 
to  an  American  wagon.  The  horses  were  good,  and  we 
drove  up  hill  and  down  on  the  trot.  We  started  at  Jaffa 
Gate,  passed  the  Place  of  the  Skull,  where  General  Gor- 
don thought  the  Saviour  was  crucified,  and  then  crossed 
the  valley  of  Kedron.  We  climbed  Mount  Scopus, 
which  joins  Olivet,  and  rode  under  the  hill  on  top  of  which 
was  Mizpah,  where  Samuel  was  buried  and  Saul  was 
publicly  chosen  King  of  the  Jews.  There  is  a  mosque  on 
that  spot  and  the  place  is  holy  to  Jews,  Christians, 
and  Moslems  alike,  all  of  whom  worship  at  Samuel's 
tomb.  Mizpah  lies  on  a  peak  about  three  thousand  feet 
above  the  Mediterranean,  and  on  one  of  the  highest  of 
the  Judean  mountains.  Here  an  army  of  crusaders 
stood  with  Richard  the  Lion-Hearted  and  got  their  first 
sight  of  Jerusalem.  As  they  looked  King  Richard  knelt 
down  and  thus  prayed: 

"O  Lord  God,  I  pray  Thee  that  I  may  never  again 
see  Thy  Holy  City  if  I  may  not  recover  it  from  the 
hands  of  thine  enemies." 

154 


AMONG  THE  SAMARITANS 

That  prayer  was  uttered  seven  centuries  ago  when 
Jerusalem  had  already  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Moham- 
medans for  about  six  hundred  years. 

The  road  we  took  to  Samaria  was  the  one  over  which 
came  the  boy  Christ  and  the  Holy  Family  when  they 
travelled  up  to  Jerusalem  to  celebrate  the  Passover.  It 
is  one  of  the  highways  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  is  still  trav- 
elled by  thousands.  About  ten  miles  beyond  Mount 
Scopus  we  stopped  at  Beeroth,  a  stone  village  surrounded 
by  green  orchards  of  figs  and  pomegranates.  Tradition 
says  that  Nablus  is  the  place  where  Joseph  and  Mary  as 
they  were  returning  to  Nazareth  discovered  that  their 
twelve-year-old  boy  was  not  with  them  and  went  back 
to  find  Him  teaching  the  wise  men  in  the  temple. 

A  little  farther  on  we  came  to  Bethel  where  the  Benja- 
mites  lived,  where  Abraham  reared  an  altar  and  called 
on  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  where  Jacob  took  stones  for 
his  pillow  and  dreamed  that  he  saw  the  ladder  extending 
to  heaven  and  the  angels  ascending  and  descending  there- 
on. The  name  Bethel,  which  means  the  House  of  God, 
has  been  changed  to  Beitin.  It  is  a  poor  stone  village 
of  about  five  hundred  people,  with  a  ruined  tower  and  a 
church. 

Shiloh,  just  off  the  road  a  little  farther  on  toward  Sa- 
maria, is  now  called  Seilun,  and,  as  Jeremiah  prophesied, 
it  is  nothing  but  ruins.  Where  it  stood  is  a  mound  cov- 
ered with  debris,  broken  columns,  and  rubbish,  so  that 
one  is  reminded  of  the  passage:  "But  go  ye  now  unto 
.  Shiloh  .  .  .  and  see  what  I  did  to  it  fof 
the  wickedness  of  my  people  Israel." 

Nevertheless,  Shiloh  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  spots 
of  the  country.     Here  Eli  dwelt  and  here  Hannah  came 

155 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

every  year  with  a  new  coat  for  her  h'ttle  son  Samuel, 
whom  she  had  given  up  to  the  Lord.  It  was  here  that 
Joshua  divided  the  land  and  the  Philistines  stole  the 
Ark  of  the  Covenant. 

I  am  surprised  at  the  caravans  which  are  continually 
crossing  these  Palestine  mountains.  There  seems  to  be 
a  great  trade  north  and  south,  and  the  roads  are  full  of 
odd-looking  people.  On  my  way  here  I  saw  crowds  of 
men  and  women  on  donkeys  coming  up  to  Jerusalem. 
Some  were  from  Galilee,  others  from  Damascus,  and  not  a 
few  from  the  mountains  of  Lebanon.  One  crowd  told  us 
that  its  people  were  Mohammedans,  and  that  they  were 
making  a  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem  and  the  tomb  of 
Moses.  There  were  many  women  among  them.  They 
sat  astride  upon  donkeys  and  some  of  them  carried  babies 
in  their  arms. 

We  passed  many  camels.  Some  were  loaded  with 
white  building  stone  slung  in  a  network  of  rope  on 
each  side  of  their  humps.  They  were  carrying  the  stone 
to  Jerusalem.  Others  were  ridden  by  women  and  men. 
I  saw  one  with  two  veiled  women  clad  all  in  black  on  its 
back  and  two  boxes  below  them,  each  box  holding  a  baby. 

Another  party  was  composed  of  Samaritan  women  on 
their  way  to  a  Moslem  festival.  They  were  red  haired 
and  as  straight  as  royal  palm  trees.  They  carried  their 
baggage  in  bundles  on  top  of  their  heads  and  walked  sin- 
gle file.  Behind  them  were  women  from  Lebanon  walk- 
ing barefooted  and  singing  in  Arabic.  They  were  tattooed 
on  lips,  chin,  and  cheeks,  and  their  bare  heads  were  frowsy 
and  dusty.  They  were  clad  in  long  cotton  gowns  em- 
broidered with  red.  Only  a  few  were  good  looking  and 
all  seemed  prematurely  old. 

156 


-->•* 


When  a  Palestinian  was  asked  wh>-  he  did  not  use  horses  for  ploughing 
he  said:  "The>'  walk  too  fast;  1  would  have  to  hurr\-  to  keep  up" 


-•^-^  -. 


But  the  Jewish  colonists  here  lost  no  time  in  adopting  modern  farm 
machinery  on  their  lands,  with  most  gratifying  results 


The  sheep  that  was  lost  is  found  by  the  roadside,  and  the  shepherd  is 
all  smiles.  At  night,  several  shepherds  will  gather  their  sheep  in  one 
place.  In  the  morning  each  calls  to  his  own  charges,  who  know  his  voice 
and  will  alwavs  come  to  him 


AMONG  THE  SAMARITANS 

I  am  now  living  in  my  tents  outside  this  old  town  of 
Shechem.  My  camp  faces  Mount  Ebal,  and  above  me  is 
Gerizim,  the  holy  hill  of  the  Samaritans.  It  is  very 
near  the  spot  where  the  laws  of  Moses  were  read  by 
Joshua  to  the  assembled  Children  of  Israel.  The  country 
is  in  the  shape  ot  a  great  amphitheatre  of  which  the  hills 
form  the  walls.  These  hills  are,  it  is  said,  a  natural 
sounding  board,  so  that  one  can  talk  on  one  mountain 
and  be  heard  on  the  other,  and  for  this  reason  the  place 
was  chosen  for  reading  the  laws. 

Shechem,  or  Nablus,  is  one  of  the  oldest  towns  in  his- 
tory. It  was  founded  long  before  Jerusalem  was  built 
and  even  before  Jacob's  time.  It  is  within  about  six 
miles  of  the  city  of  Samaria,  where  Ahab  had  his  ivory 
palace  and  where  Herod  the  Great  owned  a  royal  man- 
sion. Here,  so  it  is  said,  he  gave  that  birthday  party  at 
which  his  stepdaughter  Salome  danced.  You  remember 
the  story.  Her  dancing,  which  I  doubt  not  was  that  of 
the  nautch  girl,  so  delighted  King  Herod  that  he  told  her 
she  should  have  whatever  she  asked,  even  to  the  half  of 
his  kingdom.  She  thereupon,  as  her  mother  insisted,  de- 
manded the  head  of  John  the  Baptist,  who  was  lying  in 
prison  near  by,  and  this  bloody  gift  was  brought  in  on 
a  great  plate  or  charger. 

There  is  a  Spanish  legend  that  Salome,  as  divine  pun- 
ishment for  causing  the  murder  of  John  the  Baptist,  was 
herself  beheaded  some  years  later.  According  to  the 
story,  she  married  a  Roman  general  and  went  to  live  in 
Spain.  While  skating  on  a  river  there  she  fell  in,  and 
her  body  is  said  to  have  struck  the  edge  of  the  ice  with 
such  force  as  to  sever  her  neck,  and  her  head  went  skid- 
ding over  the  frozen  surface. 

157 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

The  old  town  of  Samaria  has  long  since  fallen  to  ruin. 
Its  site  is  a  mound  with  some  broken  pillars  and  other 
debris  lying  near  it  and  an  olive  orchard  not  far  away  in 
which  more  of  the  columns  are  still  to  be  seen. 

As  for  Nablus,  it  thrives,  and  is  one  of  the  liveliest 
towns  in  the  Holy  Land.  It  is  the  chief  commercial  cen*' 
tre  between  Damascus  and  Jerusalem,  and  its  population 
of  thirty  thousand  is  almost  entirely  Mohammedan. 
There  are  some  Jewish  merchants,  but  neither  Jews  nor 
Christians  are  much  welcomed.  I  have  been  told  to 
watch  out  as  I  go  through  its  narrow,  filthy  streets  and 
to  take  care  not  to  provoke  any  one.  Several  times  the 
boys  have  thrown  stones  at  our  party,  and  men  spit  as 
we  pass  them.  People  yell  out  "Nazarenes"  at  us,  and 
my  guide  refuses  to  let  me  photograph  them,  saying 
picture-taking  would  surely  get  us  into  trouble.  The  city 
is  so  fanatical  that  even  the  Christian  women  go  about 
with  veils  over  their  faces.  The  English  nurse  who  is 
working  here  in  the  Charity  Hospital  is  veiled  like  a 
Mohammedan  when  she  goes  out  on  the  street.  Other- 
wise she  would  cause  much  comment,  and  her  reputation 
and  work  would  be  ruined. 


158 


CHAPTER  XX 

FARMING    IN    THE    LAND   OF   MILK   AND    HONEY 

I  GIVE  you  to-day  some  bits  of  Palestine  out  of  doors. 
Within  the  past  few  weeks,  keeping  away  from  the 
cities  and  towns,  I  have  watched  the  shepherds  and 
farmers.  I  have  seen  the  real  Palestine,  with  the 
same  sky,  the  same  rocks  and  hills,  and  the  same  carpet 
of  wild  flowers  as  in  the  days  of  our  Lord.  I  have  talked 
with  the  farmers  in  the  fields,  have  ridden  side  by  side 
with  the  modern  Balaam  as  he  climbed  the  hills  on  his 
ass,  and  have  even  put  my  hand  to  ploughs  such  as  were 
used  in  the  times  of  the  Scriptures,  and  with  a  goad  have 
pricked  on  the  bullocks  and  donkeys  as  they  turned  up 
the  sod. 

The  Palestine  of  the  Bible  was  a  land  of  the  farmer. 
The  Children  of  Israel  and  their  leaders  were  brought  up 
or  worked  on  the  farm.  Abraham  had  numerous  sheep 
and  so  had  Isaac  and  Jacob.  Saul  was  the  son  of  old 
Farmer  Kish,  and  he  was  hunting  his  father's  asses  when 
he  was  met  by  Samuel,  the  prophet,  who  gave  him  a 
kingdom.  David  was  watching  the  sheep  when  Farmer 
Jesse,  his  father,  sent  him  to  the  battle,  where  with  his 
sling  he  killed  the  mighty  Goliath.  Lot  was  one  of  the 
richest  farmers  the  Jordan  Valley  has  known,  and  as  for 
Job,  who  lived  in  old  Uz,  he  was  the  cattle  king  of  his 
time,  owning  seven  thousand  sheep,  three  thousand 
camels,  five  hundred  yoke  of  oxen,  and  five  hundred  she 

159 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

asses.  It  was  in  one  farm  village,  Bethlehem,  that  our 
Saviour  was  born,  and  in  another  farming  settlement, 
Nazareth,  that  He  grew  up  to  manhood.  A  great  part  of 
His  life  was  spent  in  going  about  among  the  shepherds  and 
farmers,  and  in  His  preaching  most  of  the  examples  and 
figures  in  His  parables  were  drawn  from  things  of  the  soil. 

The  most  common  sight  out  of  doors  in  the  Holy  Land 
is  the  sheep.  They  are  everywhere.  You  find  them  on 
the  rich  plains  where  the  Philistines  lived;  they  feed 
among  the  rocks  on  the  slopes  of  the  Judean  mountains, 
and  spot  the  wilderness  all  the  way  down  to  Jericho; 
they  graze  on  every  part  of  Samaria  and  Galilee  and 
almost  everywhere  on  the  plain  of  Esdraelon.  They  are 
always  watched  over  by  shepherds  who  often  drive  them 
to  new  feeding  grounds.  The  greater  part  of  this  country 
is  mountainous.  Limestone  rocks  cover  the  soil,  which 
is  so  thin  that  if  you  could  pare  it  off  for  a  depth  of  eight 
inches  there  would  be  nothing  but  stone.  It  is  different 
in  the  plains  and  the  valleys,  but  the  hills  are  terraces  of 
rock  covered  with  boulders  and  sprinkled  here  and  there 
with  patches  of  earth.  Yet  the  least  bit  of  soil  will  grow 
luxuriant  grass,  and  the  sheep  seem  to  grow  fat  on  the 
stones. 

I  remember  some  flocks  I  saw  on  my  way  to  the  Jor- 
dan. They  were  composed  of  heavy-wooled  animals 
with  tails  of  fat  hanging  down  like  aprons  behind  them. 
The  best  of  them  weighed  two  hundred  pounds  each,  and 
the  average  was  fatter  and  finer  than  the  best  sheep  of 
America.  Some  were  white-wooled  and  some  brown,  and 
some  had  brown  heads  and  white  bodies.  I  have  tasted 
the  mutton;  it  is  excellent,  being  the  choicest  meat  to 
be  had  at  the  hotels. 

i6o 


rhe  colonists  terrace  the  hillsides  to  hold  back  the  soil  with  stones 
cleared  from  the  fields,  once  thought  too  rocky  for  cultivation.  Many 
neglected  and  treeless  hills  have  been  utterly  denuded  of  earth  by  the 
rains  of  centuries 


^;^ 


Almonds  have  proved  a  pa\ing  proposition  for  Jewish  colonists  in 
Palestine,  where  the\-  have  long  been  cultivated.  When  Jacob  desired 
his  sons  to  take  into  Eg\pt  of  the  best  fruits  of  Canaan,  he  mentioned  the 
almond 


FARMING   IN  LAND  OF  MILK  AND  HONEY 

The  shepherds  are  about  the  same  all  over  Palestine, 
kindly  eyed  men  with  fair  faces  bronzed  by  the  sun. 
They  stay  out  all  day  on  the  hills  with  the  sheep,  driving 
them  into  the  villages  at  night.  Each  shepherd  has  his 
staff  and  his  scrip,  a  little  bag  of  dried  skin.  He  uses 
a  sling  as  David  did  to  send  a  pebble  just  in  front  of  any 
straying  sheep  so  as  to  turn  it  back.  The  strings  of  the 
slings  are  of  goat  hair,  and  the  pad  for  the  stone  is  of  the 
same  material,  often  made  with  a  slit  in  the  middle  so 
that  when  a  pebble  is  put  in  the  sling  fits  close  like  a  bag. 
Such  slings  are  now  used  in  fights  between  the  boys  of 
the  villages,  who  practise  to  see  who  can  throw  stones 
the  farthest. 

The  wool  of  the  Palestine  sheep  is  especially  fine.  It 
brings  a  higher  price  than  that  of  Damascus,  and  some- 
thing like  a  million  dollars'  worth  of  it  is  exported  a  year. 
The  shearing  is  done  by  hand,  and  much  of  the  wool  is 
sold  unwashed.  Some  is  washed  after  shearing,  the  work 
being  done  by  women. 

Nearly  every  flock  of  sheep  has  its  goats.  They  are 
usually  black  so  they  can  be  picked  out  from  the  sheep 
at  a  great  distance.  Some  of  the  goats  produce  excellent 
milk,  the  best  as  much  as  three  quarts  a  day. 

There  is  a  great  deal  in  the  Bible  about  the  sheepfolds. 
These  are  common  in  Palestine.  In  the  villages  they  are 
often  corrals  and  sometimes  they  are  caves  on  the  hills. 
The  village  folds  are  closed  at  night,  and  the  shepherds 
keep  the  keys.  Those  of  the  mountains  are  usually  open 
and  the  sheep  go  in  and  out  as  they  will. 

In  some  parts  of  the  country  the  shepherds  pasture  their 
flocks  separately  by  day,  but  at  evening  several  of  them 
often  bring  their  sheep  together  in  a  large  open  field  or  a 

i6i 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

spot  sheltered  from  the  winds.  Then  each  of  the  four 
or  five  men  will  take  turns  at  keeping  watch  while  the 
others  sleep,  curled  up  in  their  sheepskins.  The  shep- 
herds to  whom  the  "glad  tidings"  came  on  the  first 
Christmas  Eve  were  thus  guarding  their  flocks  by  night. 
In  the  morning  each  shepherd  calls  out  to  his  sheep,  and 
they,  knowing  his  voice,  come  to  him  until  he  has  his 
whole  flock  around  him  again.  They  will  pay  no  heed 
to  the  same  call  if  it  is  uttered  by  a  stranger  or  another 
shepherd.  Often  to  make  sure  his  sheep  are  all  there  and 
also  to  see  that  they  are  all  right  the  shepherd  causes 
them  to  pass  under  his  rod  between  him  and  a  rock. 
He  can  thus  count  them,  and  if  one  is  limping  or  sickly 
he  can  pull  it  out  of  line  with  the  crook  of  his  staff  and 
give  it  special  care. 

.  The  Palestine  shepherd  does  not  use  his  staff  to  drive 
his  charges,  for  he  always  goes  before  with  the  sheep  fol- 
lowing him.  The  club  or  crook  he  carries  is  for  protec- 
tion and  defence  of  his  flock.  If  they  are  frightened  the 
sight  of  the  crook  on  his  shoulder  calms  their  panic.  One 
is  reminded  of  the  words  of  the  Psalmist:  "Thy  rod  and 
thy  staff  they  comfort  me." 

One  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the  shepherd  is  to 
water  the  flock.  He  does  this  at  streams  or  wells.  At 
the  wells  the  women  draw  the  water  for  the  sheep  as  they 
did  in  Bible  times.  They  use  bags  of  goatskin  untanned. 
The  skin  is  taken  almost  whole  from  the  goats,  and  the 
legs  and  other  openings  are  tied  up  so  that  it  will  hold 
water.  One  hole  is  left  at  the  throat  into  which  the 
water  is  poured.  The  water  for  the  household  is  carried 
in  such  bags,  a  network  of  ropes  being  wrapped  around 
a  skin  so  that  it  can  be  rested  upon  the  back,  the  bag 

162 


FARMING   IN  LAND  OF  MILK  AND  HONEY 

being  supported  by  a  rope  around  the  forehead.  The 
water-bag  of  the  ordinary  size,  when  filled,  weighs  at 
least  fifty  pounds.  The  women  go  along  with  their 
heads  bent  far  over,  carrying  water  to  their  village  homes. 
They  do  this  day  after  day  all  their  lives  long.  This  is 
one  of  the  most  common  sights  of  the  Holy  Land. 

Indeed  these  Palestine  peasants  are  strong  men  and 
women.  The  men  bear  astonishing  weights,  and  nobody 
thinks  anything  of  walking  twenty  miles  and  more  in  a 
day.  One  naturally  asks  as  to  their  diet.  This  is  largely 
rice,  vegetables,  nuts,  and  the  whole-meal  unleavened 
bread  of  the  country  baked  in  flat  cakes  as  in  Bible  days. 
Meat  is  a  rare  luxury.  The  Arabic  name  for  bread  is 
aish,  which  means  life,  and  to  the  peasants  of  the  Holy 
Land  it  is  the  staff  of  life.  They  have  even  a  sort  of 
reverence  for  it.  No  one  will  trample  a  fallen  crumb  into 
the  dust,  and  even  the  smallest  bit  dropped  or  thrown 
away  by  a  careless  child  will  be  picked  up  and  lodged  in 
a  crack  of  a  stone  or  wall  so  the  birds  may  get  it.  To- 
matoes, squash,  cabbage,  cauliflower,  onions,  and  egg- 
plant are  common  vegetables.  There  is  a  saying  of  the 
eggplant  that  there  are  so  many  different  ways  of  pre- 
paring it  that  if  during  the  eggplant  season  a  woman 
says  to  her  husband,  "  I  know  not  what  to  provide  for 
dinner,"  he  has  sufficient  cause  for  divorcing  her. 

Grapes  not  quite  ripe  are  much  relished  when  eaten 
with  salt.  Cucumbers  take  much  the  place  of  apples 
with  us.  Coffee  is  considered  a  necessity.  It  is  bought 
in  the  raw  berry  and  a  housekeeper  is  judged  by  her  skill 
in  roasting  and  preparing  it.  Even  if  a  family  cannot 
afford  it  for  every  day  it  must  be  on  hand  for  guests. 
Men  often  carry  some  coffee  berries  in  their  pockets  for 

163 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

use  at  friendly  gatherings,  and  wherever  men  meet  for 
business  or  ceremony  coffee  is  expected. 

The  Palestine  of  to-day  is  a  land  of  donkeys  and  cam- 
els. I  suppose  the  latter  are  about  the  same  as  those 
owned  by  Job.  They  are  raised  in  Beersheba,  where 
the  people  live  largely  on  their  milk.  The  camel  is  the 
freight  car  of  Palestine.  In  going  over  the  country  I 
have  seen  many  caravans  of  them.  On  the  way  to 
Zammarin  we  passed  some  camels  which  the  Bedouin 
drivers  were  shearing.  They  were  clipping  the  wool  from 
the  kneeling  beasts,  which  cried  and  moaned  and  now  and 
then  uttered  shrieks  as  the  shears  nipped  off  bits  of  their 
flesh.  Not  a  few  actually  shed  tears.  The  wool  of  these 
camels  is  woven  into  a  coarse  cloth  used  for  making  the 
coverings  of  the  Bedouin  tents. 

As  far  as  I  can  see  the  camels  of  the  Holy  Land  have 
no  easy  job.  They  carry  loads  of  three  or  four  hundred 
pounds  each,  and  on  short  trips  their  packs  are  left  on 
day  and  night.  They  begin  to  work  at  three  years,  and 
often  last  until  they  are  twenty-five  years  of  age. 

The  donkeys  are  much  cheaper  than  camels.  They 
are  the  draft  animals  of  the  poor,  and  are  used  by  the 
farmers  for  carrying  vegetables  and  wood  into  market. 
I  see  them  loaded  with  olive  roots  on  their  way  to  Je- 
rusalem, and  now  and  then  pass  a  donkey  caravan,  every 
animal  carrying  a  bag  of  grain  which  has  been  balanced 
upon  his  back  and  which  the  driver  holds  there  as  he  goes 
up  the  steep  hills. 

Palestine  is  often  called  "the  land  of  milk  and  honey." 
This  it  was  in  the  past,  and  this,  so  far  at  least  as  the  honey 
is  concerned,  it  may  be  again.  I  have  already  referred 
to  the  delicious  honey  served  at  the  hotel  in  Jerusalem. 

164 


With  cypresses  and  palms  Jewish  colonists  have  beautified  this  plan- 
tation near  Tiberias  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  The  Jews  answer  the  objec- 
tions of  the  Arabs  to  their  settlements  by  pointing  out  how  they  have 
"made  the  desert  bloom  like  the  rose" 


Carpenters  of  Nazareth  and  their  shops  are  niucli  the  same  to-da\'  as 
when  Joseph  phed  his  trade  and  the  boy  Jesus  helped  him.  Nazareth  is 
a  mountain  village  of  some  eight  thousand  people — Greeks,  Moslems, 
Maronites,  Roman  Catholics,  and  about  a  hundred  Protestants 


FARMING   IN  LAND  OF  MILK  AND  HONEY 

Modem  bee-keeping  was  started  in  Palestine  by  an  enter- 
prising Swiss  in  one  of  the  Jewish  colonies.  His  bees 
were  kept  in  hives  made  of  terra-cotta  jars,  which  were 
moved  to  different  pastures  several  times  during  a  sea- 
son so  as  to  get  the  benefit  of  different  kinds  of  flowers. 
The  average  yield  of  honey  per  hive  is  about  one  hundred 
pounds,  and  the  product  is  delicious. 

As  to  the  Palestine  flowers,  I  cannot  describe  them. 
There  are  said  to  be  more  than  three  thousand  varieties. 
Crossing  the  upper  plains  of  Sharon  I  rode  through  great 
fields  of  daisies  as  yellow  as  buttercups.  There  were 
greenish-white  flowers  carpeting  the  roadside,  and  among 
them  poppies,  gladioli,  and  lilies.  In  the  gardens  at 
Zammarin  are  geraniums  as  large  as  rose  bushes  and  on 
the  sides  of  the  hills  wild  flowers  of  every  description. 
There  are  yellow  violets,  and  pink  and  blue  blossoms 
whose  names  I  know  not.  There  is  also  a  red  flower 
called  "the  blood  drop  of  Christ."  It  is  said  to  have 
sprung  up  on  the  spots  where  dropped  the  blood  of  our 
Saviour  as  He  carried  the  cross.  In  a  single  day's  travel 
over  the  Samaritan  mountains  I  counted  thirty-five  dif- 
ferent wild  flowers.  At  one  place  1  saw  what  looked 
like  piles  of  Bermuda  onions  pulled  up  along  the  road- 
side. There  were  bushels  of  them,  and  I  supposed  they 
had  been  spilled  out  by  a  broken-down  caravan.  "Those 
are  lily  bulbs  which  the  farmers  have  dug  out  of  the 
fields,"  said  my  guide,  and  farther  on  I  saw  the  men  dig- 
ging. The  lilies  are  yellow  and  white  and  grow  wild. 
"They  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin,"  but  they  cause  the 
farmer  to  toil  and  are  one  of  the  pests  he  has  to  get  rid  of. 

There  are  but  few  farms  of  large  size  in  the  Holy  Land. 
The  chief  cultivated  patches  on  the  mountains  are  those 

165 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

which  have  been  cleared  of  stones.  They  are  often  no 
bigger  than  a  parlour  rug  and  seldom  contain  more  than 
three  or  four  acres.  Such  fields  frequently  have  stone 
walls  about  them.  Down  in  the  valleys  and  on  the  plains 
of  the  Philistines  the  farms  are  not  separated  by  fences 
and  are  much  larger.  They  are  planted  to  wheat,  beans, 
and  barley,  and  grow  luxuriant  crops.  One  of  the  inter- 
esting scenes  of  the  wheat  fields  is  often  referred  to  in  the 
Bible.  This  is  pulling  the  tares,  the  seeds  of  which,  if 
left,  will  make  the  flour  bitter.  Gangs  of  girls  are  en- 
gaged in  this  business  all  over  Palestine.  Each  gang 
works  under  an  overseer,  and  the  girls  bend  half  double 
as  they  pull  the  weeds  from  the  wheat.  It  is  said  that  a 
farmer's  enemies  even  to-day  sometimes  sow  tares  in 
his  wheat,  just  as  in  the  parable. 

Speaking  of  wheat,  it  is  claimed  that  Palestine  is  one 
of  the  places  in  which  that  grain  originated.  There  is 
wild  wheat  here  to-day,  and  the  agricultural  experts  are 
investigating  to  find  out  what  can  be  done  with  the 
other  wild  grains  found  in  different  parts  of  this  country. 

The  ploughs  of  the  Holy  Land  are  about  the  same  now  as 
those  used  in  the  days  of  the  Bible.  They  are  crude  af- 
fairs, made  of  wood  tipped  with  iron,  to  which  oxen  and 
bullocks  are  yoked  with  a  rough  piece  of  wood  fastened 
to  the  necks  of  the  animals.  Sometimes  the  yoke  is 
tilted  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees,  reaching  from  the 
neck  of  a  camel  down  to  that  of  a  donkey.  Donkeys  and 
cows  are  also  harnessed  together,  and  bullocks  and 
camels.  The  plough  ends  in  a  point  Hke  that  of  a  pickaxe. 
It  only  scratches  the  soil,  and  nowhere  goes  very  deep. 
The  furrows  are  so  narrow  that  many  ploughs  are  required 
for  large  fields.     The  ploughmen  wear  long  gowns,  and  on 

1 66 


FARMING   IN  LAND  OF  MILK  AND  HONEY 

their  heads  are  cloths  bound  round  with  rope.  They 
wear  rough  shoes  or  go  barefoot. 

Much  of  the  land  in  the  mountainous  parts  is  so  rocky 
that  ploughs  are  not  used.  The  earth  is  broken  up  with 
mattocks  or  hoes  and  all  the  crops  are  cultivated  by  hand. 
Nevertheless,  this  limestone  soil  is  so  rich  that  it  will 
often  produce  several  crops  in  one  year.  Figs,  olives,  and 
other  fruits  flourish.  There  are  olive  orchards  every- 
where. They  cover  the  sides  of  the  hills  and  are  near 
every  farm  village.  I  was  hardly  out  of  sight  of  them 
on  my  way  from  Shechem  to  Mount  Carmel.  A  great 
quantity  of  oil  is  exported. 

The  curse  of  the  Palestine  farmer  has  long  been  the 
Mohammedan  tax  gatherer  and  assessor.  These  men 
have  squeezed  the  heart  out  of  both  the  farmer  and  his 
crop.  The  tax  assessors  have  gone  out  over  the  coun- 
try in  the  blossom  time  of  the  olive  orchards  and  levied 
on  each  tree  the  cash  tax  to  be  paid  no  matter  how  the 
crop  finally  turned  out.  The  olive  harvest  often  fails  in 
Palestine,  so  rather  than  pay  unjust  and  excessive  taxes 
the  discouraged  farmers  have  sometimes  simply  cut  down 
trees  and  sold  both  wood  and  roots. 

It  is  not  only  the  olive  orchards  that  have  suffered 
from  this  kind  of  taxation.  One  eighth  of  the  annual 
yield  of  every  crop  has  been  taken  from  the  people.  The 
custom  of  selling  to  the  highest  bidder  the  right  to  col- 
lect the  taxes  in  a  given  district  has,  of  course,  made 
things  worse.  In  their  determination  to  get  back  the 
money  they  paid  the  government  and  a  handsome  profit 
for  themselves  besides,  these  men  have  had  no  mercy 
on  the  farmer.  The  bundles  of  grain  brought  to  the 
village  threshing-floors  and  put   up  in  stacks  of  eight 

167 


THE  HOLY  LAND   AND  SYRIA 

have  been  closely  watched  by  the  tax  gatherers  and  their 
agents. 

Besides  these  farm  taxes,  the  people  have  suffered  from 
a  head  tax  of  two  dollars  on  every  male  member  of  the 
community  from  birth  to  death,  from  the  salt  tax,  from 
taxes  on  imports,  and  on  everything  that  a  man  eats, 
drinks,  or  wears. 

Once  freed  from  oppressive  taxation  and  its  farmers 
given  a  fair  chance,  there  is  no  doubt  that  Palestine  will 
produce  many  times  what  it  has  done  under  Turkish 
rule. 


168 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE  COLONIES  AND  THEIR  DEVELOPMENT 

JEWS  in  the  Holy  Land  are  bringing  to  life  again 
the  Palestine  of  the  past.  They  are  proving  that 
their  ancient  "land  of  milk  and  honey"  can  be 
made  to  bloom  and  prosper.  Gathered  together 
in  colonies,  they  are  introducing  modern  farming  methods 
and  showing  what  can  be  done  under  proper  conditions. 
The  trim  Jewish  villages  built  by  the  colonists  are  a 
refreshing  sight  in  contrast  to  the  dirty  Arab  settle- 
ments and  their  more  or  less  desolate  surroundings. 
The  energy  and  alertness  of  many  of  the  settlers  are  also 
noticeable  as  compared  with  the  natives  who  have  been 
content  for  centuries  to  do  no  more  than  their  fathers 
have  done  before  them  and  in  the  same  ways. 

At  first  most  of  the  Jews  came  to  Palestine  only  for  the 
sake  of  ending  their  days  in  the  land  of  their  fathers. 
They  were  a  sort  of  resident  pilgrims.  Others  came  to 
get  away  from  oppression  and  persecution.  Gradually 
the  success  of  the  farm  colonies  attracted  the  attention 
of  Jews  all  over  the  world,  and  regularly  organized  move- 
ments for  planting  Jewish  settlements  in  the  Holy  Land 
sprang  up.  More  and  more  colonists  began  to  come 
because  they  wanted  to  get  on  the  land  and  saw  in  Pales- 
tine chances  of  greater  freedom  and  success  in  life  than 
in  the  crowded  streets  and  small  shops  of  European 
cities.     Colonies  were  set  up  under  all  sorts  of  schemes 

169 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

and  plans,  and  while  there  have  been  some  failures,  many 
have  been  quite  successful. 

When  groups  of  colonists  first  come  out  they  fre- 
quently live  in  tents,  and  even  before  they  build  perma- 
nent houses  set  to  work  starting  nurseries,  planting 
trees,  draining  swamps,  picking  up  stones,  and  otherwise 
preparing  the  land  for  cultivation.  Millions  and  mil- 
lions of  stones  have  been  picked  up  from  the  rock-strewn 
hillsides  of  Palestine,  piled  into  baskets,  and  then  carried 
off  and  laid  up  to  form  terraces  to  keep  the  soil  from 
being  washed  away  or  to  make  walls  like  those  so  often 
seen  on  New  England  farms. 

There  is  a  tree  here  called  the  "Jews'  tree,"  because 
the  colonists  have  planted  so  many  of  them  on  their 
lands.  This  is  the  eucalyptus,  first  brought  to  Pales- 
tine by  the  Jewish  settlers.  As  this  tree  absorbs  a  great 
deal  of  moisture  it  is  a  good  one  to  plant  in  swampy  land, 
and,  as  has  been  found  in  other  countries,  by  helping  to 
drain  the  marshes  it  is  a  factor  in  keeping  down  malaria. 
Besides  giving  shade  in  this  land  of  glaring  sun,  it  fur- 
nishes wood  for  orange  boxes  and  may  in  time  be 
grown  to  such  an  extent  as  to  increase  the  scanty  fuel 
supply. 

Some  of  these  farm  colonies  are  in  Galilee,  some  in 
Judea,  and  a  very  large  one  is  not  far  from  the  seaport 
of  Jaffa. 

The  latter  is  known  as  the  Rishon  le  Zion,  or  "the  first 
colony  of  Zion."  It  supports  a  village  of  about  twelve 
hundred  people,  who  cultivate  three  thousand  acres,  on 
which  are  grown  almonds,  oranges,  and  other  fruits,  es- 
pecially grapes.  This  colony  annually  makes  millions 
of  gallons  of  wine  and  it  exports  great  quantities  of  Jaffa 

170 


THE  COLONIES  AND  THEIR  DEVELOPMENT 

oranges.  I  am  told  that  its  wine  cellars  are  the  third  lar- 
gest in  the  world.  It  was  founded  by  the  Rothschilds  to 
give  persecuted  Russian  Jews  a  refuge,  and  afterward 
managed  by  the  Hirsch  colonization  fund.  It  is  run  at  a 
profit.  The  other  colonies  are  similar  to  it,  and  some  of 
them  nearly  as  large.  Each  has  a  school,  a  drug  store,  a 
hospital,  and  a  synagogue. 

The  Sir  Moses  Montefiore  colonies  and  schools  at  Je- 
rusalem are  doing  good  work,  and  the  French-Jewish 
Society,  which  has  a  million  members,  maintains  a  number 
of  schools,  including  manual  training  schools  for  girls  and 
boys.  If  the  students  do  well  they  are  given  capital  to 
start  out  with  and  are  established  in  little  shops  of  their 
own.  In  some  of  these  schools  the  children  are  so  poor 
that  they  are  furnished  one  meal  a  day  and  one  suit  of 
clothes  every  year. 

Another  colony,  Tel  Aviv,  or  "The  Hill  of  the  Ears 
of  Grain,"  has  a  high  school  graduates  from  which  have 
been  admitted  to  Columbia  and  other  American  univer- 
sities. The  only  language  spoken  in  this  school  is  He- 
brew, which  is  being  revived  as  the  language  of  a  great 
many  of  the  Jews  who  have  settled  in  the  Promised  Land. 
The  colony  of  Gederah  is  celebrated  for  its  large  flock  of 
doves,  which  are  the  common  property  of  the  community. 
Rechoboth,  founded  in  1890,  was  the  first  colony  to  in- 
troduce Jewish  workmen  with  success. 

While  the  Jews  of  ancient  Palestine  were  farmers,  it  is 
now  nearly  two  thousand  years  since  they  have  had  any 
land  of  their  own  to  develop.  When  they  were  driven 
out  of  their  country  by  their  conquerors,  they  were  scat- 
tered over  the  world,  and  took  refuge  in  the  cities  where 
most  of  them  have  been  living  ever  since.     There  they 

171 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

became  a  people  of  traders  and  shopkeepers,  and  because 
of  this  fact  many  have  believed  that  the  Jewish  colonies 
in  the  Holy  Land  could  never  succeed. 

The  Arabs  in  Palestine  have  a  saying  that  the  love  of 
trading  is  in  the  blood  of  a  Jew  and  that  he  can't  help 
wanting  to  be  a  merchant  any  more  than  he  can  help 
wanting  to  possess  the  Holy  Land.  They  say  that  a  few 
years  after  coming  to  Palestine  a  Jewish  colonist  will  be 
found  looking  out  of  the  back  windows  of  his  house  at  a 
gang  of  Arabs  doing  his  farm  work,  while  in  his  front 
windows  he  displays,  not  his  farm  products,  but  goods  he 
has  bought  for  sale.  Many  of  the  Jewish  settlers  did,  in 
fact,  find  it  difficult  to  take  up  farm  w^rk,  and  were  in- 
clined to  hire  Arabs  who  would  work  for  lower  wages 
than  Jews.  This  led  to  friction  between  Jews  and 
Arabs,  but  now  more  and  more  of  the  colonists  are  doing 
their  own  farm  work,  road  making,  carpentering,  and 
other  manual  labour.  The  colonists  have  also  learned 
that  the  most  scientific  farming  methods  pay  best,  and 
are  developing  schools  where  their  young  people  are 
taught  how  to  get  the  most  out  of  the  land. 
-  The  Jews  of  other  lands  are  liberal  in  their  gifts  to  the 
Jews  of  Palestine,  and,  besides  helping  to  set  up  the  colo- 
nies, have  established  schools  and  hospitals  in  and  about 
Jerusalem.  One  of  the  sources  from  which  money  comes 
for  the  settlement  and  advancement  of  the  Jewish  colo- 
nies is  a  fund  collected  from  the  synagogues  of  the 
United  States,  which  is  regularly  sent  from  New  York 
to  the  Holy  Land.  Jews  all  over  our  country  contribute 
to  it. 

There   have   been   several    American    colonies   in    the 
Holy  Land,  but  the  only  one  that  has  made  any  impres- 

172 


Nazareth  lies  in  a  little  amphitheatre  of  hills  with  a  rugged  arena.     There 
is  hardly  a  level  spot  in  the  whole  town 


The  boys  of  Nazareth  are  friendly,  but  in  fanatical  Nablus  they  throw 
stones  at  Christians 


The  stone  pot  by  which  Mr.  Carpenter  is  standing  is  claimed  b\-  the 
Greeks  to  be  the  one  that  contained  the  water  that  Christ  turned  into 
wine  at  the  marriage  feast  at  Cana  of  Galilee 


THE  COLONIES  AND  THEIR  DEVELOPMENT 

sion  or  lasted  for  any  long  time  is  that  known  for  some 
years  as  the  Spaffordites.  It  was  founded  by  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  SpafTord,  who  belonged  to  a  Presbyterian  church 
in  Chicago.  They  left  the  church  and  came  to  Jerusalem, 
saying  that  they  intended  to  devote  their  wealth  and  their 
lives  to  working  for  Christ  in  the  Holy  Land.  They  per- 
suaded fourteen  adults  and  five  children  to  come  with 
them,  and  together  they  founded  a  colony  which  has 
lasted  until  now. 

That  was  1881.  To-day  the  colony  has  members  from 
all  parts  of  the  Union.  There  are  a  number  from  New 
England,  some  from  the  South,  several  from  Kansas  and 
Nebraska,  and  quite  a  delegation  from  Philadelphia  and 
Chicago.  I  have  talked  with  them  about  their  beliefs. 
They  say  they  are  Christians  and  that  they  believe  in  the 
Bible  interpreted  as  it  is  printed.  They  take  the  Golden 
Rule  as  their  motto  and  try  to  live  up  to  it.  They  say 
they  have  no  hobbies,  and  that  their  Christianity  is  a 
practical  faith. 

This  colony  lives  together  as  a  community,  its  mem- 
bers holding  all  things  in  common.  At  first  they  threw 
their  money  into  a  common  fund,  and  lived  without 
working.  Finding,  however,  that  this  fund  was  soon 
spent,  they  established  a  business  of  their  own  and  are 
now  self-supporting.  They  have  their  own  house  out- 
side the  walls,  where  they  live  very  comfortably,  eating 
at  a  common  table  with  worship  morning  and  evening. 
They  frequently  take  Americans  in  as  paying  guests, 
charging  less  than  the  prevailing  hotel  rates  for  much 
better  quarters.  They  also  have  a  bakery  from  which 
they  sell  bread  and  cake;  a  shoe  shop,  and  an  art  school, 
where  girls  are  taught  painting  and  drawing.     They  have 

173 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

factories  where  they  make  desks,  boxes,  and  other  beau- 
tiful things  of  oh've  wood;  and  a  weaving  estabHshment 
where  cloths  of  wool  and  linen  are  made. 

Some  years  ago  they  also  established  what  is  known  as 
the  American  store.  This  is  near  the  Jaffa  Gate  inside 
Jerusalem,  and  right  on  the  way  from  that  gate  to  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

This  store  is  about  the  only  one-price  establishment  in 
the  Holy  Land.  In  all  other  places  three  times  what  is 
expected  is  asked,  and  one  has  to  dicker  and  bargain  and 
beat  down  the  merchants.  In  the  American  store  one 
can  buy  photographs  and  slides  of  the  Holy  Land,  brass 
work  from  Damascus,  rugs  from  Persia  and  Turkey,  and 
any  sort  of  curio  made  in  the  country. 

During  my  stay  in  Jerusalem  I  several  times  visited 
this  colony,  and  was  delighted  with  the  peace,  quiet,  and 
brotherly  love  which  seem  to  prevail.  Its  members  are 
well  bred  and  intelligent;  and  as  far  as  I  can  see  they 
practise  what  they  preach.  An  interesting  feature  is 
their  grace  before  meals.  This  is  always  sung  at  the 
table  by  both  members  and  guests. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  Jewish  colonies  is  at  Zam- 
marin  on  the  southwest  slope  of  Mount  Carmel,  where 
these  notes  are  written.  The  place  is  about  five  hours' 
ride  from  Haifa,  and  a  day's  journey  by  carriage  from 
Nablus.  The  town  is  owned  by  a  Jewish  colony  which 
has  a  large  tract  of  land  given  it  by  Baron  Edward  Roths- 
child of  Paris.  The  land  is  high  above  the  sea  at  the 
northern  end  of  the  plain  of  Sharon,  so  situated  that  it 
commands  a  view  of  that  plain  at  the  east  and  of  the 
Mediterranean  Sea  at  the  west.  The  country  about  is 
covered  with  chunks  of  limestone  of  all  shapes  and  sizes, 

174 


THE  COLONIES  AND  THEIR  DEVELOPMENT 

and,  besides,  the  bedrock  crops  out  in  ledges  with  small 
tracts  of  arable  land  here  and  there. 

The  Jews  have  taken  this  land,  have  cleared  it  of  the 
loose  rocks,  and  are  making  it  bloom  like  a  garden.  They 
have  some  quite  large  fields  on  top  of  Mount  Carmel, 
which  is  now  covered  with  wheat  waving  in  the  wind. 
They  are  raising  luxuriant  crops  of  oats  and  beans  and 
they  have  vineyards  as  thrifty  as  those  of  south  France 
or  the  Rhine.  Their  olive  orchards  would  be  a  credit  to 
any  part  of  Italy;  and  their  English  walnut  trees  bear 
Hke  those  of  southern  California.  They  are  raising  fine 
cattle,  which  they  graze  on  the  hills  in  the  daytime  and 
bring  in  at  night.  The  milk  is  excellent,  and  the  meat  as 
tender  and  sweet  as  the  corn-fed  beef  of  Chicago.  I  am 
told  that  the  land  produces  abundantly  and  that  the 
colony  does  well. 

Zammarin  is  far  different  from  the  squalid  Arab  towns 
of  Palestine.  Its  houses  are  of  German  architecture  and 
many  of  its  people  speak  German.  It  has  a  hotel  run  by 
an  American  Jew  and  planned  upon  Jewish  lines.  Out- 
side the  door  of  my  room  is  fastened  a  tube  of  olive  wood 
containing  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  similar  tubes 
are  to  be  found  at  every  door  of  the  hotel,  as  well  as  on 
the  doors  of  every  house  in  the  place.  The  Jews  kiss  these 
tubes  as  they  go  in  and  out. 

Zammarin  has  sidewalks,  and  there  is  a  tower  into 
which  water  is  pumped  to  supply  every  house.  There 
is  a  synagogue,  which  is  well  attended,  and  a  town  hall, 
where  the  officials  of  the  colony  meet  and  decide  all 
matters  of  local  government. 

Indeed,  the  colony  is  a  little  republic  with  a  president 
and  other  officials  elected  by  its  members.     It  settles  its 

175 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

own  disputes,  and  makes  assessments  for  special  taxes 
for  such  things  as  schools  and  village  improvements. 
When  Zammarin  was  started  it  was  supported  by  Roths- 
child. Later  on  it  was  turned  over  to  the  Anglo- Israelite 
Colonization  Society  founded  by  Baron  Hirsch.  It  was 
then  supported  from  Europe,  but  this  did  not  work  and  it 
is  now  running  itself.  Every  family  works  for  itself  and 
has  its  own  property.  As  a  result  the  people  are  becom- 
ing independent.  The  standard  of  self-respect  has  risen, 
and  all  seem  to  be  prospering. 


176 


We  cross  the  Sea  of  Galilee  where  Christ  stilled  the  sudden  tempest 
and  walked  on  the  waters.  On  its  shores  He  spoke  many  of  His  parables 
and  wrought  a  number  of  His  miracles 


Through  the  arched  Gate  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  ruins  of  ancient 
Tiberias,  the  once  proud  city  of  Herod,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  which 
Christ  spent  much  of  his  active  life.  For  years  Tiberias  was  the  seat 
of  Jewish  learning 


CHAPTER  XXII 

WHERE    OUR    SAVIOUR    SPENT   HIS    BOYHOOD 

TO-DAY  I  am  in  Nazareth,  the  home  of  Christ's 
boyhood.  Here  He  was  brought  as  a  baby  after 
the  flight  into  Egypt  to  escape  the  bloodthirsty 
Herod,  and  here  He  spent  all  but  about  four  years 
of  His  life.  The  town  is  situated  high  up  in  the  mountains 
of  Galilee,  within  sixty  miles  of  Jerusalem  as  the  crow 
flies  and  sixty-seven  miles  from  Bethlehem,  where  Jesus 
was  born.  It  is  within  a  day's  ride  on  horseback  of 
Mount  Carmel  and  within  four  hours  of  Capernaum  on 
the  Sea  of  Galilee  from  which  our  Saviour  called  His 
apostles  and  where  He  first  preached. 

Nazareth  lies  in  a  nest  in  the  mountains.  It  is  in  a 
little  amphitheatre  of  hills  with  a  rough  and  ragged  arena. 
The  houses  extend  up  the  sides  of  the  hills  and  there  is 
hardly  a  level  spot  in  the  whole  town.  It  has  altogether 
less  than  twelve  thousand  inhabitants  of  whom  about 
half  are  Mohammedans.  The  rest  of  the  population  is 
made  up  of  Greek  Catholics,  Latins,  and  about  two  hun- 
dred Syrians  of  the  Protestant  faith.  The  town  is  full  of 
churches  and  convents,  and  there  are  some  great  mon- 
asteries and  hospices  where  pilgrims  may  stop  over  night. 
The  homes  of  the  people  are  rectangular  structures, 
which  look  more  like  great  stone  boxes  than  houses. 
They  are  usually  of  one  story,  with  a  door  and  two  win- 
dows, and  most  of  them  have  flat  roofs,  which  in  the 

177 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

summer  nights  are  used  as  resting  and  sleeping  places. 
A  number  of  the  buildings  are  in  gardens.  Some  have 
cactus  hedges  about  them  and  others  are  shaded  by  cypress 
trees.  There  are  many  olive  orchards,  and  figs  grow  here 
as  luxuriantly  as  they  did  when  Christ  was  a  boy. 

The  buildings  of  Nazareth  are  ugly,  but  as  a  whole  the 
city  and  its  surroundings  are  beautiful.  I  doubt  whether 
there  is  more  beautiful  scenery  to  be  found  in  England  or 
Scotland,  or  even  in  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains  of  Vir- 
ginia, for  which  God  has  done  much.  There  are  many 
fine  views.  One  can  stand  in  the  city  or  near  it  and  look 
out  over  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  and  by  climbing  the  hills 
he  can  see  Mount  Carmel,  where  Elijah  hid  the  prophets 
and  later  on  slew  the  false  prophets  of  Baal.  It  is  only  a 
few  hours'  ride  from  Nazareth  over  the  hill  to  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  where  the  Nazarene  boys  even  now  sometimes  go 
fishing. 

I  shall  not  soon  forget  a  bird's-eye  view  I  had  of  the  town 
last  night.  The  moon  was  at  its  full,  and  its  great  round 
silver  disk  changed  the  night  into  day.  Its  rays  mel- 
lowed the  yellow  limestone  of  the  houses  and  transformed 
them  to  ivory.  They  softened  the  glare  of  the  white, 
rocky  roads,  and  made  a  fairyland  of  the  mountains  and 
valleys.  From  the  top  of  the  hills  I  could  see  the  plain  of 
Esdraelon,  which  in  its  fertility  vies  with  the  Nile  Valley; 
and  away  off  at  the  west  lay  the  mighty  Mediterranean, 
which  stretches  on  for  two  thousand  miles  to  Gibraltar 
and  the  Atlantic. 

Nazareth  by  moonlight  is  wonderfully  peaceful.  At 
sunset  all  business  stops,  and  within  an  hour  or  so  after- 
ward everyone  is  in  bed.  There  are  few  places  that 
seem  so  far  from  the  strife  of  the  world.     Business  is 

178 


WHERE  OUR  SAVIOUR  SPENT  HIS  BOYHOOD 

swallowed  up  in  the  beauties  of  nature.  The  scenery  is 
that  of  old  Greece,  and  the  stars  shine  gloriously  out  of 
skies  which  are  perfectly  clear. 

The  sunsets  are  surpassingly  beautiful.  The  other 
night  the  golden  beams  of  the  sinking  sun  seemed  to  form  a 
halo  over  this  the  home  of  our  Saviour.  There  were  many 
white  clouds  in  the  sky,  which  changed,  first  to  rose  and 
then  to  gold,  the  colour  growing  stronger  and  stronger, 
until  the  whole  west  was  one  blaze  of  fire  and  molten  copper. 

Coming  down  into  the  town,  after  watching  one  of  these 
sunsets,  I  met  many  Nazarene  children.  As  I  stopped 
a  few  minutes,  the  little  ones  gathered  around  me,  and  it 
was  not  hard  to  imagine  similar  groups  playing  in  these 
streets  nineteen  hundred  years  ago  with  the  boy  Jesus. 
The  little  Nazarenes  wore  gowns  of  brown,  red,  or  yellow. 
Most  of  them  were  in  their  bare  feet;  the  boys  had  caps 
of  red  felt,  while  the  girls  wore  handkerchiefs  or  shawls 
tied  around  their  heads.  All  were  running  and  dancing 
and  laughing  and  playing.  Some  of  the  girls  were  quite 
pretty.  I  remember  a  rosy-cheeked  baby  carried  by  a 
roguish,  bright-eyed  maid  of  eighteen.  I  admired  the 
baby  and  chucked  it  under  the  chin,  telling  the  girl  I 
would  like  to  take  it  home  with  me  to  America.  She 
promptly  said  I  could  have  it  and  thrust  it  out  toward 
me.     My  face  fell  and  I  ran. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  this  is  the  Nazareth  of  Jesus, 
and  that  the  hills  and  valleys  about  here  were  hallowed 
by  His  footsteps.  It  was  here  that  the  Angel  Gabriel 
appeared  unto  Mary  when  she  was  engaged  but  not  yet 
married  to  Joseph  and  told  her  that  she  would  be  the 
mother  of  Jesus,  and  it  was  here  that  she  came  with  Joseph 
after  the  flight  into  Egypt.     She  waited  only  until  King 

179 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

Herod  was  dead,  and  then  came  to  Nazareth,  the  child 
Jesus  being  still  an  infant  in  arms.  It  was  from  Nazareth 
that  Jesus  went  to  the  Jordan  to  be  baptized  by  John, 
and  it  was  here  that  after  He  had  begun  His  work  our  Lord 
came  and  preached  in  the  synagogue.  Whereupon  the 
Nazarenes  cried  out : 

Is  not  this  Joseph's  son?  .  .  .  And  .  .  .  they  .  .  . 
were  filled  with  wrath,  and  rose  up  and  thrust  Him  out  of  the  city  and 
led  Him  unto  the  brow  of  the  hill  whereon  their  city  was  built  that  they 
might  cast  Him  down  headlong.  But  He  passing  through  the  midst 
of  them  went  His  way. 

The  Roman  Catholics  now  own  what  is  said  to  be  the 
site  of  the  shop  where  Joseph  worked  as  a  carpenter. 
The  place  is  in  the  Mohammedan  quarter,  not  far  from  a 
bazaar  where  the  Moslem  merchants  sit  cross-legged  and 
sell  to  the  Christians.  When  I  visited  it  I  met  Father 
Kersting,  who  came  here  to  superintend  excavations  on 
the  site  of  an  old  church  built  by  the  Crusaders. 

Under  his  direction  a  grotto  was  uncovered  which  many 
believe  to  be  the  place  where  Joseph  had  his  carpenter 
shop,  and  where,  if  this  is  true,  the  little  Christ  must  have 
played  among  the  shavings. 

The  various  sects  here  make  all  sorts  of  claims.  The 
Latins  allege  that  they  own  the  table  upon  which  Christ 
supped  with  His  disciples  both  before  and  after  the 
Resurrection.  It  is  a  block  of  hard  chalk  eleven  feet  long 
and  nine  feet  in  breadth.  In  another  place  in  the  Latin 
monastery  is  what  is  known  as  the  Angel's  Chapel  and  the 
Chapel  of  the  Annunciation,  where  the  Virgin  received  Ga- 
briel's message.  There  is  also  an  old  cistern  which  is  called 
the  Kitchen  of  the  Virgin,  and  in  the  centre  of  the  town  is 
Mary's  Well,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  Jesus's  Spring, 

i8o 


lish  from  the  Sea  of  Galilee  are  an  important  factor  in  the  food  supply 
of  the  Holv  Land.     Large  catches  are  common 


Capernaum  to-day  is  the  city  of  prophecy  fulfilled,  for  of  it  Christ  said: 
"And  thou,  Capernaum,     .     .     .     shall  be  brought  down  to  hell" 


i  /.f.^^^ 


For  centuries  the  Jews  have  been  city-dwellers  and  traders,  but  the 
colonists  are  doing  the  manual  labour  on  the  lands  they  have  taken  up. 
though  at  first  they  brought  down  on  themselves  the  reproaches  of  their 
neighbours  by  hiring  Arabs 


WHERE  OUR  SAVIOUR  SPENT  HIS  BOYHOOD 

or  Gabriel's  Spring.  This  is  undoubtedly  authentic,  for 
it  is  the  only  spring  or  watering  place  Nazareth  now 
possesses  or  ever  has  possessed.  It  is  therefore  certain 
that  the  child  Jesus  and  the  Virgin  frequented  it,  and  that 
Mary  came  here  daily  for  water.  This  is  a  fountain 
rather  than  a  well.  The  water  gushes  forth  in  two 
streams  into  a  stone  basin,  whence  it  flows  into  a  stone- 
inclosed  pool.  There  are  always  women  with  water 
jars  about  it,  and  the  scenes  of  to-day  are  probably  the 
same  as  those  of  Christ's  time. 

Thousands  of  pilgrims  come  to  Nazareth  every  year  to 
visit  the  places  hallowed  by  the  Saviour,  and  it  is  also  on 
the  main  route  from  the  mountains  of  Lebanon  to  Je- 
rusalem. Caravan  routes  from  Damascus  to  Egypt  wind 
about  it,  and  it  has  always  been  an  important  point  on 
the  chief  travel  routes. 

The  bazaars  are  of  about  the  same  character  as  they 
were  in  Jesus's  day.  They  are  narrow,  cave-like  stores 
lighted  only  from  the  front.  The  merchants  sit  there 
walled  around  with  goods,  while  the  customers  stand  out 
in  the  cobblestone  roadway  and  bargain.  The  streets 
are  dirty  and  camels  and  Bedouins  are  continually  mov- 
ing through  them.  The  men  wear  turbans  and  gowns, 
and  the  women  are  veiled  or  unveiled,  according  to 
whether  they  are  Mohammedans  or  Christians. 

I  was  interested  in  the  mechanical  work  going  on  in 
these  bazaars.  I  stopped  in  a  carpenter's  shop,  and 
photographed  a  workman  of  just  about  the  age  Joseph 
must  have  been  when  our  Lord  was  a  boy  and  passed  as 
his  son.  I  asked  about  carpenter's  wages,  and  was  told 
they  ranged  from  fifty  cents  to  one  dollar  per  day.  In 
another  business  street  I  stopped  awhile  with  the  black- 

i8i 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

smiths  who  were  making  knives,  razors,  plough  points,  and 
the  long,  thin,  crescent-shaped  sickles  used  here  for  har- 
vesting. The  sickles  have  teeth  like  a  fine  saw.  I  lin- 
gered to  watch  a  blacksmith  shoe  a  horse.  He  used  a 
plate  of  iron  the  shape  of  the  hoof  about  an  eighth  of  an 
inch  thick.  With  the  exception  of  a  hole  as  large  as  a 
finger  ring  in  the  centre,  it  was  solid.  There  were  three 
small  holes  on  each  side  for  the  nails,  which  were  driven 
into  the  hoof.  When  shod  the  horse's  foot  was  entirely 
covered  by  iron  except  for  the  small  hole  in  the  centre. 

Since  I  have  been  here  I  have  paid  especial  attention 
to  the  children.  They  are  the  best  part  of  the  Holy 
Land  and  are  as  full  of  fun  and  as  delightful  as  our  chil- 
dren at  home.  I  have  seen  families  which  recall  that  of 
Joseph  and  Mary,  and  many  boys  with  innocent  faces 
which  suggest  that  of  Jesus.  Here  in  Nazareth  I  see  the 
little  ones  everywhere  playing.  There  is  a  threshing- 
floor  on  one  side  of  the  town,  a  place  where  the  earth  has 
been  stamped  down  and  where  the  grain  is  flailed  or  trod- 
den out  after  harvest.  This  is  one  of  the  great  play- 
grounds, where  the  boys  come  with  their  marbles  and 
where  they  play  ball.  In  one  of  their  games  the  boys 
try  to  throw  the  ball  so  as  to  hit  a  stone  mark  set  up  for 
the  purpose.  They  also  strike  the  ball  with  a  club  and 
send  it  beyond  the  threshing-floor  to  be  caught  by  the 
boys  outside.  They  play  blind  man's  bufl",  leap-frog,  and 
hide-and-seek,  and  as  I  went  through  the  streets  the  other 
day  I  saw  two  little  ones  rising  and  falling  on  a  board 
resting  on  the  edge  of  a  sharp  stone,  making  a  seesaw. 

One  of  the  games  played  is  like  our  "  Button,  button, 
who  has  the  button?"  The  boys  stand  in  a  row  with 
hands  folded  and  the  one  who  is  "it"  goes  along  and  rubs 

182 


WHERE  OUR  SAVIOUR  SPENT  HIS  BOYHOOD 

his  two  hands,  holding  the  pebble  over  each  pair  of  folded 
hands  and  endeavouring  to  drop  it  into  one  without  being 
caught.  Then  the  others  must  guess  who  has  the  peb- 
ble.    We  play  the  same  game  with  the  button. 

Another  game  is  known  as  the  "tied  monkey."  In 
this  the  boy  who  is  "it"  catches  hold  with  one  hand  of 
a  rope  fastened  to  a  peg  in  the  ground  while  the  others 
beat  him  with  handkerchiefs  or  ropes  in  which  knots  are 
tied.  If  he  can  catch  one  of  them  without  letting  go  his 
hold  on  the  rope  the  boy  caught  takes  his  place. 

I  observe  that  the  boys  here  usually  play  by  them- 
selves. They  rather  look  down  on  their  sisters,  and  the 
average  family  considers  the  girl  of  but  little  account. 
When  a  girl  is  born  no  fuss  is  made,  but  when  a  boy  comes 
the  friends  of  the  family  run  through  the  streets  crying 
out:  "Good  tidings!  Good  tidings!"  The  father  pre- 
pares a  feast,  and  all  the  friends  of  the  family  give 
presents  of  money  for  the  benefit  of  the  boy.  Imme- 
diately after  the  child  is  born  it  is  rubbed  over  with  salt 
and  then  wrapped  in  swaddling  clothes  so  tight  that  it 
cannot  move.  After  it  has  been  bound  up  thus  for  about 
a  week,  it  is  unfastened,  washed  with  fresh  oil,  salted, 
and  bound  up  again.  This  wrapping,  oiling,  salting,  and 
re-wrapping  goes  on  for  about  forty  days,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  the  child  is  ready  to  wear  the  ordinary  cloth- 
ing of  babyhood.  This  usually  consists  of  one  garment, 
but  in  the  summer,  if  the  child  be  poor,  that  is  omitted, 
although  a  naked  baby  may  wear  a  skull  cap.  The  usual 
garment  is  a  shirt  reaching  to  the  knees,  and  as  the  chil- 
dren grow  older  they  may  have  jackets  over  their  shirts. 

One  of  the  important  ceremonies  is  naming  the  boy. 
To  the  child's  given  name  that  of  the  father  is  always 

183  . 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

added.  I  n  olden  times  if  the  son  of  James  was  named  John, 
his  name  would  be  John,  son  of  James,  but  now  the  words 
"son  of"  are  omitted  and  he  is  known  as  John  James. 

I  am  surprised  at  the  beauty  of  the  Nazarene  girls,  and 
especially  of  the  little  ones.  They  have  rosy  cheeks  and 
bright  eyes  and  are  quite  as  good  looking  as  our  American 
babies.  They  dress  in  bright  colours  and  some  have  rows 
of  coins  on  their  headdresses  and  rings  on  their  fingers. 

I  see  many  little  girls  at  the  fountain  of  Mary,  each 
with  a  jar  in  which  to  bring  water  home.  This  is  the 
work  of  almost  every  woman  in  the  land.  The  little  ones 
are  taught  by  beginning  with  a  tiny  jar  which  they 
steady  on  the  head  with  the  hand.  As  they  grow  older 
they  use  larger  jars,  until  at  last  they  are  able  to  walk 
through  the  streets  carrying  four  or  five  gallons  of  water 
on  the  head  without  touching  the  jar.  This  work  gives 
them  erect  figures,  and  there  are  no  stooped  shoulders 
or  curved  spines  among  them. 

When  a  girl  reaches  ten  or  eleven  years  of  age  she  be- 
gins to  think  of  marriage,  and  it  is  not  an  uncommon 
thing  for  her  to  be  a  mother  at  thirteen  or  fourteen. 
After  marriage  the  wife  becomes  a  member  of  her  hus- 
band's family,  and,  for  a  time  at  least,  lives  with  her 
mother-in-law.  For  this  reason  people  believe  in  early 
marriages,  so  that  the  giri  may  be  trained  by  her  hus- 
band's mother  into  a  suitable  wife  when  she  grows  up. 

I  wonder  if  the  boys  of  our  Saviour's  time  studied  as  do 
the  Nazarene  boys  of  to-day.  As  half  the  town  is  Mo- 
hammedan, many  of  them  are  taught  by  the  sheiks. 
They  sit  on  the  floor,  swaying  back  and  forth  as  they 
scream  out  the  verses  and  texts  they  are  trying  to  learn. 
The  teacher  is  sometimes  blind,  but  he  knows  the  voices 

184 


WHERE  OUR  SAVIOUR  SPENT  HIS  BOYHOOD 

so  well  that  when  one  stops  he  can  strike  with  his  stick 
the  place  where  that  boy  should  be  sitting  to  start  him 
again.  In  our  Lord's  time  the  Bible  was  probably  taught  in 
the  same  way  to  the  Jewish  children.  Most  of  the  slates 
used  here  are  made  of  cast-off  kerosene  oil  cans,  the  tin 
being  cut  into  squares  and  pounded  out  flat.  The 
Arabic  characters  are  painted  upon  such  tins  with  brushes 
and  India  ink. 

The  chief  study  of  the  Mohammedan  boys  is  the  Koran, 
while  the  Jews  learn  the  Psalms.  At  harvest  time  the 
schools  close  and  the  children  go  out  into  the  fields,  gar- 
dens, and  vineyards.  They  are  accustomed  to  work,  and 
everywhere  I  go  I  see  them  herding  the  sheep.  The  boys 
use  slings  just  as  David  did  and  are  skilful  in  sending  the 
stones  just  where  they  please. 

Some  of  these  Palestine  children  are  polite,  but  others 
are  just  the  reverse.  When  the  good  boy  comes  into  a 
room  full  of  older  people  he  goes  around  and  kisses  the 
hand  of  each  one  and  places  it  on  his  forehead.  He  can 
be  so  sweet  that  you  might  think  him  the  soul  of  innocence 
and  piety,  but  take  him  outside  and  he  will  fight,  kick, 
and  scratch  with  his  fellows.  A  great  deal  of  slang  is 
used,  and  in  a  quarrel  the  most  common  expressions  are 
those  cursing  your  enemy's  ancestors.  One  boy  will 
say  to  another,  "Curse  your  father!"  and  the  other  v^ll 
reply,  "And  your  grandfather!"  And  so  they  will  go 
on  to  the  fourth  and  fifth  generations,  each  cursing  the 
various  branches  of  the  other's  family.  Here  at  Naz- 
areth we  find  the  children  very  polite,  but  at  Nablus 
they  threw  stones  at  me  and  called  me  a  "Nazarene," 
the  name  used  by  the  Mohammedans  of  Samaria  to  ex- 
press contempt  for  all  not  of  their  faith. 

185 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

From  Nazareth,  Joseph  and  Mary  went  every  year  to 
Jerusalem.  They  tramped  over  the  hills  of  Galilee  and 
across  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  then  climbed  the  moun- 
tains of  Samaria.  There  is  a  trail,  part  of  which  has  been 
made  into  a  macadamized  road.  Such  trips  were  usually 
made  in  large  companies,  and  when  I  crossed  Samaria  a 
short  time  ago  I  met  scores  of  these  people  from  Galilee 
on  their  way  to  Jerusalem.  The  parties  consisted  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  most  of  whom  were  on  foot. 
Now  and  then  one  found  a  woman  riding  a  donkey,  with 
her  husband  trudging  beside  her,  and  sometimes  whole 
families  on  donkeys.  It  was  in  such  a  party  that  Jesus 
went  to  Jerusalem  when  He  was  about  twelve  years  of 
age.  He  was  then  thought  to  be  old  enough  to  take  care 
of  Himself,  for  the  Bible  relates  that  when  they  departed 
Jesus  tarried  behind  in  Jerusalem,  and  Joseph  and  His 
mother  knew  not  of  it.  They  had  already  gone  a  day's 
journey  before  they  missed  Him,  and  then  turned  back 
to  find  Him.  Only  after  three  days  was  He  discovered 
in  the  temple  sitting  in  the  midst  of  the  doctors,  both 
hearing  them  and  asking  them  questions. 

And  all  that  heard  him  were  astonished  at  his  understanding  and 
answers. 

And  when  they  saw  him  they  were  amazed.  And  his  mother  said 
unto  him:  Son,  why  hast  thou  thus  dealt  with  us?  Behold,  thy  father 
and  I  have  sought  thee,  sorrowing. 

And  he  said  unto  them:  How  is  it  that  ye  sought  me?  Wist  ye  not 
that  1  must  be  about  my  father's  business? 

And  they  understood  not  the  saying  which  he  spake  unto  them.  And 
he  went  down  with  them  and  came  to  Nazareth,  and  was  subject  unto 
them.     But  his  mother  kept  all  these  sayings  in  her  heart. 

And  Jesus  increased  in  wisdom  and  stature  and  in  favour  with  God 
and  man. 


1 86 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

ON    THE    SEA    OF   GALILEE 

WE  ARE  in  a  fisherman's  skiff  on  the  Sea  of 
Galilee.  We  have  just  left  Tiberias,  the 
ancient  city  of  Herod  near  the  southern 
end  of  the  lake,  and  are  on  our  way  to 
Capernaum,  that  white  spot  which  you  can  see  on  the  shore 
at  the  north  where  Christ  lived  and  preached.  It  seems 
strange  that  one  can  carry  the  whole  Sea  of  Galilee  in  his 
eye.  I  have  always  thought  of  it  as  only  a  little  less  than 
an  ocean,  or  at  least  as  big  as  the  largest  of  our  great  fresh- 
water lakes.  The  truth  is  that  compared  to  Lake  Mich- 
igan it  is  only  a  puddle.  It  is  about  half  as  large  as 
Lake  Cayuga,  at  Ithaca,  New  York,  and  standing  on  any 
of  the  hills  rising  precipitously  about  it  one  can  plainly 
see  the  whole  body  of  water. 

This  so-called  sea  is  only  six  miles  wide  at  its  widest 
part  from  east  to  west,  and  from  where  the  Jordan  flows 
in  at  the  north  to  the  place  where  it  empties  out  at  the 
south  the  distance  is  a  scant  thirteen  miles.  The  sea 
lies  in  the  depression  of  the  Jordan  Valley,  the  river 
forming  a  winding  canal  two  hundred  miles  long  which 
connects  it  with  the  Dead  Sea  at  the  south. 

Lake  Superior  is  a  little  more  than  six  hundred  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  ocean.  The  Sea  of  Galilee  is  more 
than  six  hundred  and  eighty  feet, below  that  level  and  lies 

187 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

in  a  nest  of  beautiful  mountains  which  slope  up  from  the 
water  in  picturesque  shapes. 

Over  there  at  the  west  the  shores  are  bright  green  and 
are  spotted  with  wild  flowers.  The  grass  makes  a  wav- 
ing sheet  of  emerald  velvet  which  seems  almost  to  reach 
the  fleecy  white  clouds  of  the  blue  sky  above. 

Farther  to  the  south  are  the  Galilean  mountains,  now 
gray  in  the  morning  sun,  with  masses  of  smoky  clouds 
hanging  over  them.  They  are  full  of  water;  and  as  I 
look,  lo!  the  rain  comes.  The  sun  is  still  shining  and  has 
painted  a  rainbow  over  that  part  of  the  lake  covering 
the  town  of  Magdala,  which,  as  you  remember,  was 
Mary  Magdalen's  home. 

Looking  through  the  rainbow  you  can  catch  sight  of 
the  Mount  of  the  Beatitudes  where  our  Saviour  sat  when 
He  preached  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  On  the  sloping 
little  hill  at  the  left  it  is  said  He  commanded  the  weary 
multitude  to  sit  down  on  the  grass  and  fed  the  five 
thousand. 

Now  look  eastward  to  the  lands  on  the  opposite  sides 
of  the  lake  and  the  Jordan.  They  rise  straight  up  from 
the  water.  The  hills  are  so  steep  that  it  would  be  almost 
impossible  to  climb  them,  and  they  are  ragged  and 
rough.  That  is  the  land  of  the  Gadarenes,  where  our 
Lord  cast  out  the  devils  into  the  swine  which  ran  vio- 
lently down  a  steep  place  into  the  sea. 

All  about  us  are  the  most  familiar  scenes  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. Every  bit  of  these  shores  has  been  hallowed;  and 
as  we  look  the  figures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
spring  into  life.  It  is  impossible  to  read  the  Bible  in 
the  Holy  Land  and  not  feel  that  its  people  were  real 
men  and  women.     The  apostles  had  the  same  feelings  as 

i88 


In  a  galvanized  iron  shack,  the  home  of  newl\-  arrived  colonists,  the 
bread  of  Bible  times  is  made  by  a  Jewess  from  modern  Europe.  Pales- 
tine, as  a  national  home,  has  had  a  special  appeal  to  the  persecuted  Jews 
of  Poland  and  southeastern  Europe 


Near  the  waters  of  Lake  .Meron,  where  Joshua  smote  the  PhiHstines, 
we  see  to-day  the  new  farmer  of  Palestine  and  his  transportation.  At 
last  even  the  roads  of  that  backward  land  are  being  improved  so  that 
motor  cars  may  go  over  them 


ON  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE 

ours;  they  lived  in  a  world  much  the  same;  they 
breathed  the  same  air;  they  loved  and  sorrowed  as  we  do 
to-day. 

I  doubt  not  our  Lord  appreciated  the  beauties  of 
Galilee.  Its  scenery  is  as  picturesque  as  that  of  any  lake 
in  the  Alps,  and  its  loveliness  changes  every  hour  of  the 
day.  I  saw  the  sun  set  last  night.  The  clouds  hung 
heavy  over  the  hills  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan  and  the  sun 
gilded  the  top  of  the  Mount  of  the  Beatitudes  as  it  went 
down  in  the  west.  A  little  before  that  these  waters  were 
a  glorious  yellow  which  faded  away  into  a  rich  copper 
bronze.  At  the  same  time  the  heavens  were  burnished 
copper,  cloud  piled  upon  cloud,  and  the  whole  was  mir- 
rored in  the  glassy  surface  beneath.  The  Sea  of  Galilee 
has  always  been  noted  for  its  wonderful  beauty.  It  was 
a  pleasure  resort  at  the  time  of  Herod  Antipas,  and  the 
palaces  of  Tiberias  and  Capernaum  were  famous  all  over 
the  East. 

Later  on  I  had  still  another  view  of  the  lake.  It  was 
moonlight  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  The  great  round 
queen  of  the  heavens,  her  golden  face  at  its  full,  shone  out 
of  a  mass  of  dark  blue  with  black  clouds  behind  it.  The 
rays  of  the  moon  striking  the  sea  obliquely  painted  a 
wide  path  of  silver  running  from  the  hills  of  Gadara  across 
the  waters  to  Tiberias.  I  gazed  at  the  scene  from  the 
window  of  my  hotel  over  the  minarets  of  a  Mohammedan 
mosque.  It  reminded  me  of  Lake  Como  and  of  some 
Scottish  lakes. 

As  we  ride  up  the  lake  to-day  I  watch  closely  the 
fishermen  handling  our  craft.  We  are  in  a  skiff  about 
thirty  feet  long  and  four  feet  wide.  It  has  a  white  leg- 
of-mutton  sail  which  is  filled  by  the  wind  from  the  south, 

189 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

and  we  are  speeding  over  the  water.  Our  boat  leaves 
a  pathway  of  diamonds  dropped  there  by  the  sun.  I 
reach  over  the  side  of  the  boat  and  let  my  hand  trail  in 
the  water.  It  is  cool.  I  dip  up  some  in  my  palm  and 
taste  it.     It  is  quite  brackish. 

Now  the  fishermen  have  laid  their  oars  across  the  sides 
of  the  boat.  They  are  depending  on  the  wind  to  carry 
us  onward.  Some  are  asleep,  among  them  one  at  the  prow 
who  lies  with  bare  legs  outspread,  his  bronzed  face  in  the 
full  glare  of  the  sun.  He  is  snoring.  At  the  right  is  a 
man  mending  a  net,  while  on  the  other  side  of  the  boat 
two  are  chatting.  The  scene  might  have  been  one  on 
this  same  lake  nineteen  centuries  ago,  when  Christ 
called  men  like  these  from  their  boats  to  be  "fishers  of 
men." 

By  and  by  the  subject  of  fishing  comes  up.  Thinking 
of  the  great  draught  which  Simon  Peter  and  the  other 
apostles  drew  up  when  they  cast  their  nets  at  the  com- 
mand of  our  Lord  at  the  time  He  appeared  to  them  here 
after  His  crucifixion,  I  ask  if  there  are  still  many  fish  in 
the  lake.  They  tell  me  that  the  sea  is  alive  with  good 
fish  and  that  quantities  are  carried  to  Nazareth  and 
other  Galilean  towns  every  week.  Some  are  sent  to 
Damascus  by  railroad  and  some  are  salted  and  shipped 
off  to  Jerusalem.  About  a  year  ago  a  party  took  five 
tons  of  fish  in  one  day.  The  catch  was  so  great  that  fish 
sold  in  Tiberias  for  one  cent  apiece,  and  six  pounds  or 
more  could  be  bought  for  a  penny.  All  along  the  lake 
there  are  fishing  villages  where  the  fishermen  are  still 
to  be  seen  dragging  their  nets  or  mending  them  as  they 
float  near  the  shore.  I  am  told  that  there  are  three  ways 
of  fishing.     One  is  by  hook  and  the  others  are  by  nets. 

190 


ON  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE 

One  kind  of  net  is  cast.  It  is  used  from  the  shores  by  the 
fishermen  wading  breast  deep  into  the  water.  The  net 
is  a  great  ring  or  disk  of  thread  weighted  with  lead.  As 
it  sinks,  it  takes  the  shape  of  a  dome,  falling  upon  the 
fish  it  incloses.  The  fisherman  dives  down  and  draws 
the  leads  together  and  carries  net  and  catch  to  the 
banks.  Much  fishing  of  this  kind  is  done  near  Magdala. 
Another  net  is  a  dragnet,  with  floats  at  the  top  and  leads 
at  the  bottom.  This  is  usually  worked  from  a  boat 
dragging  the  net  so  that  it  forms  a  loop  and  scoops  in 
the  fish.  Among  the  fish  caught  are  excellent  bass,  some 
of  which  we  have  had  at  the  hotel.  An  especially  curious 
fish  is  that  known  as  the  chromis  simonis,  the  male  of 
which  carries  the  eggs  and  the  young  about  in  its  mouth. 

The  storms  come  up  quickly  on  Galilee.  I  have  seen 
several  since  I  arrived  in  Tiberias  and  have  experienced 
one  or  two  on  the  sea.  It  was  during  one  of  these  storms, 
when  they  were  crossing  the  sea,  that  the  apostles  came 
to  our  Lord,  who  was  sleeping,  and  begged  him  to  save 
them.  He  arose  and  rebuked  the  waters,  and  lo,  it  was 
calm. 

At  the  time  of  another  storm  He  was  not  with  them, 
having  gone  up  into  a  mountain  apart  to  pray.  The  ship 
was  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  tossed  by  the  waves,  when 
the  disciples  saw  Him  walking  on  the  water.  They  were 
troubled,  and,  thinking  Him  a  spirit,  cried  out  for  fear. 
Then  Jesus  said:  "Be  of  good  cheer;  it  is  I;  be  not 
afraid." 

And  you  remember  how  when  Peter  tried  to  go  to 
Him,  and  when  he  saw  the  wind  boisterous,  his  heart 
failed  him  and  he  began  to  sink,  Jesus  stretched  forth 
His  hand  and  caught  him,  saying:     "O  thou    of   little 

191 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

faith,  wherefore  didst  thou  doubt?"  And  when  they  were 
come  into  the  ship  the  wind  ceased. 

But  our  wind  also  has  dropped.  The  boatmen  are 
lowering  the  sails  and  we  are  gliding  to  the  shores  of 
Capernaum.  They  are  now  covered  with  rich  meadows, 
with  here  and  there  ploughed  fields  and  crops  of  fast-grow- 
ing grain.  From  the  boat  we  can  see  no  signs  that  a  city 
once  stood  on  the  spot.  The  only  evidence  of  life  is  a 
low,  gray,  one-story  monastery  belonging  to  the  Francis- 
cans, who  are  excavating  the  ruins  and  digging  temples 
and  synagogues  out  of  the  soil.  They  own  several  hun- 
dred acres  running  along  the  beach  and  extending  for 
perhaps  a  mile  up  the  hills.  Some  of  their  lands  are  under 
cultivation,  and  there  are  orchards  of  lemons,  oranges, 
and  almonds  to  the  east  of  their  buildings. 

Landing  at  the  wharf  we  enter  a  door  in  the  walls 
which  surround  the  excavations.  I  introduce  myself  to 
Father  Wenderlin,  an  austere-looking  priest  who  speaks 
German.  He  takes  me  around  and  shows  me  the  results 
of  the  work.  He  says  they  are  digging  up  what  is  be- 
Heved  to  be  the  actual  synagogue  where  Jesus  Christ 
taught  when  He  came  here  from  Nazareth.  As  you 
must  remember,  Capernaum  was  His  home.  It  was 
from  here  that  He  found  most  of  His  disciples  and  here 
He  cured  Simon's  wife's  mother  who  lay  sick  of  a  fever. 
Here,  disgusted  with  the  wickedness  of  the  city.  He  said: 

And  thou,  Capernaum,  which  art  exalted  unto  Heaven  shall  be 
brought  down  to  hell;  for  if  the  mighty  works  which  have  been  done 
in  thee,  had  been  done  in  Sodom,  it  would  have  remained  unto  this  day. 

The  prophecy  then  uttered  has  long  since  come  to 
pass.     The  city  of  Capernaum  is  not. 

192 


The  prawr  niches  ot  the  Grand  Mosque  of  Damascus  are  marvels 
in  mosaics.  Marble  and  wood  are  inlaid  with  gold,  silver,  precious  stones, 
and  glass.  They  were  presented  to  the  mosque  b\-  pious  and  wealthy 
Mohammedans  as  thankofferings  for  Divine  favour 


In  this  Mohammedan  ccmeter\-  in  Damascus  lies  Fatima,  daughter 
of  the  Prophet,  and  also  two  of  the  Prophet's  wives.  On  Thursda\'s  the 
women  of  the  cit\'  come  to  mourn  at  the  graves 


ON  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE 

The  ruins  of  the  synagogue  show  the  splendour  of  the 
ancient  city.  I  walked  around  its  boundaries.  It  was 
fifty-four  feet  long  and  seventy-two  feet  wide.  Its 
front,  which  faced  the  sea,  had  a  great  many  marble 
columns,  and  it  was  built  in  two  stories,  the  upper  of 
which  was  for  the  women.  The  pillars  are  three  feet 
thick,  smoothly  finished  and  exquisitely  carved.  The 
marble  work  is  that  common  in  Rome  shortly  before  the 
time  of  Christ,  and  much  of  it  is  uninjured. 

So  far  only  a  small  portion  of  the  site  of  Capernaum 
has  been  explored.  There  are  a  thousand  acres  or  so 
left  that  in  all  probability  contain  ruins  which,  when 
exposed,  may  cast  new  light  upon  the  days  and  time  of 
the  Saviour.  The  Franciscan  monks  will  not  permit 
relics  to  be  taken  away,  and  they  forbid  the  use  of  cam- 
eras. Father  Wendelin  carries  a  long  black  snake  whip 
with  him,  and  1  am  told  that  he  uses  it  if  he  is  not  obeyed. 
The  other  day  a  woman  tourist  brought  in  a  camera 
under  her  coat  and,  notwithstanding  his  objections,  took 
a  snapshot,  whereupon  he  is  said  to  have  laid  hold  of 
her  and  thrown  her  out  of  the  place. 

I  am  stopping  at  Tiberias  in  a  little  German  hotel 
where  I  have  a  comfortable  room  looking  out  on  the 
water.  Tiberias  is  the  largest  settlement  on  the  sea. 
It  lies  on  the  western  shore  at  the  southern  end,  within 
a  mile  or  so  of  the  Horns  of  Hattin  where  it  is  said  Christ 
delivered  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  It  is  only  a  short 
sail  from  where  the  Jordan  flows  out  to  the  Dead  Sea, 
and  from  Semakh,  where  the  railroad  now  goes  north 
on  its  way  from  Haifa  to  Damascus. 

The  city  was  the  capital  of  Galilee,  and  it  was  at  the 
height  of  its  prosperity  when  Christ  was  living  at  Caper- 

193 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

naum.  It  was  founded  by  Herod  Antipas,  the  son  of 
Herod,  the  baby  killer,  and  was  named  after  the  Roman 
Emperor  Tiberias.  It  was  constructed  while  Christ  was 
living  in  Nazereth,  and  was  a  new  and  thriving  city  dur- 
ing His  residence  at  Capernaum.  It  is  doubtful  that  He 
even  visited  it,  for  the  Bible  does  not  mention  His 
doing  so. 

The  city  had  a  palace  and  a  race  course  in  those  days, 
and  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  it  became  the 
chief  seat  of  the  Jewish  nation.  It  is  still  one  of  the 
three  holy  cities  of  the  Jews  and  it  has  many  Israelites 
among  its  citizens.  They  go  about  in  long  coats  and 
caps  bound  with  fur,  and  are  noted  for  their  piety  and  for 
their  knowledge  of  the  Talmud.  Many  of  them  are 
Spanish  Jews  who  have  come  here  to  live  on  account  of 
the  holiness  of  the  city. 

The  Tiberias  of  to-day  is  not  attractive.  It  is  a  mass 
of  gray  stone  and  brick  buildings,  with  flat  roofs  painted 
white.  The  streets  are  narrow  and  filthy  and  smell  to 
heaven.  The  Arabs  have  a  saying  that  the  king  of  the 
fleas  lives  here.  The  human  population  is  something 
like  eight  thousand,  of  whom  about  two  thirds  are  Jews 
and  the  remainder  Mohammedans  and  Christians.  The 
Jews  have  ten  synagogues  and  there  is  also  a  Moham- 
medan mosque.  The  northern  limits  of  the  place  are 
marked  by  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  town,  and  the  re- 
mains of  its  walls  and  a  gate  are  still  standing. 

The  hot  springs  on  the  shores  of  the  lake  a  half  mile 
from  the  city,  which  were  famous  in  the  days  of  the 
Romans,  are  still  used.  They  are  in  many  respects 
similar  to  those  of  Carlsbad,  the  waters  containing  sul- 
phur, chloride  of  magnesia,  and  iron.     They  are  good  for 

194 


ON  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE 

skin  diseases,  and  if  they  were  under  American  manage- 
ment might  be  made  to  pay  well.  One  of  the  most  in- 
teresting and  valuable  institutions  in  this  city  is  the 
hospital  belonging  to  the  Scottish  missionaries.  It  has 
thousands  of  patients  a  year  and  is  doing  great  good. 

I  came  here  from  Nazareth  riding  over  the  mountains 
of  Galilee.  The  road  is  fairly  good,  although  it  is  up  and 
down  hill  all  the  way.  About  six  miles  from  Nazareth  I 
stopped  at  the  village  of  Cana  where  our  Lord  was  a 
guest  at  the  wedding  feast  and  turned  the  water  into 
wine.  I  even  saw  the  stone  jars  or  tubs  which  the  people 
who  own  one  of  the  churches  there  say  were  the  jars 
used  for  that  miracle.  They  are  kept  inside  the  church, 
and  it  took  several  fees  to  get  to  them.  They  are  great 
hmestone  receptacles,  looking  much  like  mortars,  and  it 
is  likely  that  wheat  was  ground  in  them  by  means  of  a 
pestle. 

I  also  visited  the  spring  at  Cana.  As  there  is  only 
one,  it  must  have  been  from  there  that  the  water  which 
was  turned  into  wine  was  obtained.  Four  camels,  six 
sheep,  and  two  cows  were  drinking  at  it  as  I  stopped,  and 
a  half-dozen  girls  with  water-bags  were  waiting  for  their 
family  supply.  It  is  probable  that  Cana  was  much 
larger  and  more  prosperous  in  the  days  of  our  Saviour 
than  now. 


195 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE    ZIONIST   MOVEMENT 

THERE  are  fifteen  million  Jews  in  the  world  to- 
day, scattered  over  the  face  of  the  earth.  Their 
ancestors  once  lived  and  ruled  in  Palestine,  a 
country  now  no  bigger  than  our  own  state  of 
Vermont.  For  centuries,  while  peoples  of  alien  faiths 
possessed  their  ancient  land,  each  Jew  kept  warm  in  his 
bosom  a  belief  that  the  Promised  Land  would  one  day  be 
restored  to  him  and  the  Holy  City  rebuilt  to  the  glory  of 
Jehovah. 

During  the  last  century  Jews  the  world  over  began  to 
discuss  practical  means  for  making  the  age-long  dream 
of  their  people  come  true.  This  discussion  grew  into  an 
organized  movement  which  has  rolled  up  in  size  like  a 
snowball.  Zionism,  as  it  is  called,  is  giving  the  states- 
men of  Christendom,  as  well  as  the  Jew  and  the 
Mohammedan,  a  mighty  problem  to  wrestle  with.  It  in- 
volves the  biggest  colonization  scheme  since  the  settle- 
ment of  America,  as  well  as  religious  and  political 
controversies  likely  to  keep  the  world  stirred  up  for  a 
good  many  years  to  come. 

This  little  country  has  been  the  battleground  of  the 
nations  since  long  before  the  time  of  Moses.  Egyptian 
and  Hittite,  Assyrian,  Persian  and  Greek,  Roman  and 
Arab,  the  Crusader  and  the  Turk  have  succeeded  one 
another  in  their  conquests.     In  the  World  War  another 

196 


ti 

IPHH^^I^^H^^HBP^^^jPJ 

'I'hc  l\oran  describes  l^aradise  as  a  place  ot  green  trees  with  a  river 
flowing  between — hence  the  Arabs'  devotion  to  Damascus,  which  they 
call  the  "Pearl  of  the  East" 


It  was  down  this  wall,  they  say  in  Damascus,  that  the  Apostle  Paul 
was  lowered  in  a  basket  at  night  when  he  escaped  from  his  Jewish  enemies 
in  that  cit\' 


The  Street  called  Straight,  the  most  famous  in  Damascus,  Hke  most 
of  the  old  streets  of  the  Orient,  is  made  narrow  to  secure  shade  from  the 
hot  sun.     Besides,  it  is  roofed  over,  so  that  it  is  like  a  diml\-  lighted  tunnel 


THE  ZIONIST  MOVEMENT 

name  was  added  to  the  long  list,  that  of  the  Briton,  who 
drove  out  the  Turk.  Under  a  mandate  John  Bull  took 
over  the  rule  of  Palestine,  and  the  holy  places  of  three 
great  religions,  Christianity,  Mohammedanism,  and  Juda- 
ism, came  under  his  trusteeship. 

The  British  Government  proclaimed  its  intention  to 
"favour  the  establishment  in  Palestine  of  a  national 
home  for  the  Jewish  people"  and  to  "use  their  best  en- 
deavour to  facilitate  the  achievement  of  this  object." 
At  the  same  time  they  promised  that  nothing  should  be 
done  to  prejudice  the  civil  and  religious  rights  of  the 
Christians  and  the  Moslems  in  the  Holy  Land,  nor  to  hurt 
the  position  of  Jews  in  other  countries.  In  this  way  the 
British  became  the  chief  sponsors  of  Zionism,  while  other 
great  nations,  including  our  own  United  States,  expressed 
themselves  more  or  less  formally  in  sympathy  with 
the  aims  of  the  movement.  The  British  appointed  a 
Jew,  Sir  Herbert  Samuel,  first  High  Commissioner  of 
Palestine,  and  promised  to  cooperate  with  the  inter- 
national Zionist  organization  in  working  out  Palestine 
affairs. 

I  have  told  you  of  the  Jewish  colonies  I  have  seen  in 
the  Holy  Land.  When  the  first  colony  was  founded  there 
were  not  enough  Jews  in  all  Palestine  to  hold  a  prayer 
meeting.  Under  Zionism  their  number  rapidly  increased, 
and  within  three  years  after  British  control  there  were  more 
than  seventy-five  thousand  Jews  in  the  Holy  Land,  with 
about  sixteen  thousand  living  in  the  colonies.  But  the 
number  of  Jews  forms  only  about  one  tenth  of  the  total 
population,  four  fifths  of  whom  are  Moslems,  with  about 
the  same  number  of  native  Christians  as  Jews.  After 
the  war  Jews  poured  in  for  a  time  at  the  rate  of  fifteen 

197 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

hundred  a  month,  and  thousands  more  are  eager  to  come 
as  soon  as  permitted. 

The  founder  of  the  Zionist  movement  was  Dr.  Theodore 
Herzl,  who  called  together  the  first  world  congress  of 
Jews.  He  travelled  over  Europe  for  many  years,  getting 
the  leading  men  of  his  time  interested  in  Zionism.  The 
Pope  received  him,  and  so  did  the  Kaiser,  while  Joseph 
Chamberlain  in  England  gave  his  support  to  the  move- 
ment. He  had  two  interviews  with  the  Sultan  of  Turkey, 
Abdul  Hamid,  on  whom  he  made  such  an  impression  that 
the  Sultan  once  said: 

"That  is  a  good  man.  As  he  looks,  so  I  imagine  the 
Christ  must  have  looked."  Some  of  the  Jews  called 
Herzl  the  "Twentieth  Century  Messiah." 

I  once  had  a  talk  with  Israel  Zangwill,  one  of  the  most 
famous  Zionists,  about  this  Jewish  movement.     He  said: 

"We  Jews  have  always  hoped  that  Palestine  would 
again  belong  to  us.  This  hope  has  lasted  for  more  than 
two  thousand  years,  and  from  time  to  time  various  proj- 
ects based  upon  it  have  been  formed  to  repossess  the  land. 
Nearly  all  of  these  have  been  visionary  and  many  of 
them  have  been  founded  upon  the  second  coming  of  a 
Messiah  who  should  suddenly  rise  and  lead  us,  in  some 
miraculous  way,  back  to  our  Mother  Country.  Many 
Jews  confidently  believe  that  will  occur.  At  present  the 
Jews  are  scattered  all  over  the  earth.  There  are  more 
than  fifteen  million  of  them.  About  ten  million  are  in 
Russia  and  the  other  countries  of  eastern  Europe.  As 
it  is  now,  the  Jews  are  congested  in  the  large  cities. 
London  has  many  times  the  number  in  the  Holy  Land, 
and  there  are  at  least  twice  as  many  Jews  in  New  York 
as  the  whole  population  of  Palestine.     Chicago  has  a 

198 


THE  ZIONIST  MOVEMENT 

quarter  of  a  million,  and  Philadelphia  more  than  two 
hundred  thousand.  New  York  City  has  the  largest 
Ghetto  of  the  world,  and  adds  to  it  by  thousands  of  im- 
migrants a  year. 

"We  were  once  an  agricultural  and  pastoral  people," 
continued  Mr.  Zangwill,  "and  we  could  make  Palestine 
again  a  land  of  milk  and  honey.  We  should  like  to  have 
the  country  as  a  Jewish  colony,  made  up  of  our  own  peo- 
ple, where  we  could  govern  ourselves  in  our  own  way. 
We  should  not  object  to  being  colonially  dependent  upon 
some  great  power,  but  we  want  home  rule  and  a  national 
home  of  our  own." 

There  are  really  three  kinds  of  Zionists,  and  the  Jews 
themselves  are  divided.  Some  would  be  satisfied  to  make 
Jerusalem  merely  the  centre  of  their  religion  and  of 
Hebrew  culture.  A  larger  number  want  Palestine  to  be 
a  place  of  refuge,  where  Jews  from  all  over  the  world 
may  live  in  freedom  from  political,  religious,  or  economic 
oppression.  But  a  still  larger  number  will  not  be  satis- 
fied until  there  is  set  up  in  Palestine  a  Jewish  state,  with 
Jews  in  control  of  the  land,  the  government,  and  the 
holy  places.  These  Jews  say  they  wish  to  do  full  justice 
to  the  other  natives  of  Palestine,  with  whom  they  be- 
lieve they  can  live  in  peace,  and  expect  the  British  to  re- 
tain control  until  the  Jews  form  a  majority  of  the  popu- 
lation. To  put  through  this  programme  powerful  Jewish 
organizations  have  set  out  to  raise  a  fund  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  million  dollars  in  five  years. 

The  non-Jewish  people  of  Palestine  have  objected  to 
the  Zionist  scheme,  and  demanded  of  the  British  that  all 
Jewish  immigration  be  stopped  for  ten  years.  Chris- 
tians and  Moslems  in  Palestine  have  wasted  no  love  on 

199 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

one  another,  but  the  prospect  of  a  great  wave  of  Jewish 
settlers  united  them  to  the  extent  that  a  Moslem-Chris- 
tian league  was  formed,  whose  members  agreed  to  sell 
no  land  to  Jews.  Nevertheless,  the  Jews  have  continued 
to  increase  their  land  holdings,  but  the  British  have  lim- 
ited the  number  of  Jewish  immigrants  who  can  come  into 
Palestine.  At  times  the  feeling  between  Jew  and  non-Jew 
has  been  so  acute  as  to  result  in  riots  in  which  many 
people  were  killed. 

The  Moslems  say  that  the  Jews  have  no  right  to  Pales- 
tine since  their  people  have  not  lived  there  for  nearly  two 
thousand  years.  The  Zionist  programme,  they  state,  is 
based  on  the  theory  that  might  makes  right,  and  they 
accuse  the  British  of  ignoring  the  wishes  of  the  majority 
in  Palestine  and  consulting  only  the  Jews,  whom  the 
Moslems  outnumber  almost  ten  to  one. 

They  complain  that  leaders  of  Jewish  organizations  in 
other  countries  have  more  influence  in  Palestine  affairs 
than  the  native  Palestinians  themselves,  and  say  that 
some  of  them  are  sending  communists  to  the  Holy  Land 
to  stir  up  class  warfare. 

The  Zionists  feel  that  what  the  Jews  have  already  done 
in  Palestine  goes  far  to  justify  their  aim  to  make  it  a 
Jewish  homeland.  "Our  people,"  they  say,  "have  es- 
tablished over  seventy  colonies  on  land,  much  of  which 
was  reclaimed  from  swamp  and  sand.  They  have  cre- 
ated gardens  and  orchards  where  once  was  waste.  They 
have  started  modern  schools,  and  the  first  act  of  the 
Zionists  under  British  control  was  to  lay  the  cornerstone 
of  a  national  Jewish  university  in  Jerusalem.  They  have 
put  in  sanitary  improvements  in  their  villages,  opened 
hospitals  and  given  medical  service  to  Jew  and  Gentile 

200 


THE  ZIONIST  MOVEMENT 

alike.  They  have  started  new  industries,  and  are  pre- 
paring to  harness  the  water  power  of  the  Jordan  so  as  to 
make  it  possible  to  irrigate  the  land  and  furnish  elec- 
tricity for  the  whole  country."  These  things,  the  Zion- 
ists say,  are  but  the  beginning  of  further  benefits  to  come 
as  the  Jews  flock  back  to  the  Promised  Land  and  work 
out  their  big  programme. 

There  is  plenty  of  room  for  Jews  and  Moslems,  accord- 
ing to  Zionists,  who  estimate  that  the  land  could  be  made 
to  support  from  three  million  to  five  million  people.  But 
one  fourth  of  the  land  is  now  in  use,  and  the  population 
is  only  about  fifty  to  the  square  mile. 

The  Jews  have  begun  to  revive  the  Hebrew  language  in 
Palestine.  In  Jerusalem,  where  most  of  the  learned 
gather,  it  is  already  spoken  by  many  Jews  from  different 
countries  who  find  it  their  common  tongue.  Outside 
Jerusalem  it  is  not  spoken  so  much,  but  it  is  being  taught 
in  the  Jewish  schools.  Before  the  war,  German  organ- 
izations backing  certain  colonies  and  schools  tried  to 
compel  the  use  of  German  in  the  Polytechnic  Institute  built 
at  the  foot  of  Mount  Carmel,  but  succeeded  only  in  starting 
a  great  quarrel  in  which  they  were  utterly  defeated. 

With  the  revival  of  the  ancient  language  has  come  an 
effort  to  revive  Hebrew  art.  In  the  Bezalel  Art  and  Craft 
School  of  Jerusalem  characters  of  the  old  Hebrew  alpha- 
bet have  been  made  the  basis  for  new  designs  in  weaving 
rugs  and  decorating  vases.  Young  Jewish  painters  have 
been  attracted  to  Palestine  to  take  part  in  this  revival, 
and  musicians  have  begun  to  collect  the  old  Hebrew 
melodies.  The  ancient  church  council  of  the  Sanhedrin, 
told  of  in  the  Bible,  has  been  set  up  again  in  Jerusalem, 
with  women  admitted  to  its  membership. 

20 1 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

The  Hadassah  Medical  Organization  in  Palestine,  for- 
merly called  the  American  Medical  Unit,  now  has  three 
hospitals  and  a  dispensary  maintained  at  a  cost  said  to 
be  more  than  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year. 
Hadassah  grew  out  of  an  American  organization  of  Jewish 
women.  Ten  years  ago  it  was  a  small  society  of  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety-three  members.  To-day  it  is  a  national 
organization  with  a  membership  of  fifteen  thousand.  It 
is  especially  active  in  health  work  among  children,  and 
in  the  care  of  mothers  and  infants,  and  it  teaches 
Palestine  girls  to  be  nurses.  There  were  twenty-two 
girls  in  the  first  class  graduated  from  the  nurses'  train- 
ing school. 

Another  thing  the  Zionists  have  done  to  help  their 
brethren  in  Palestine  is  to  organize  a  bank,  with  a  capital 
of  ^800,000.  They  plan  to  make  long-time  loans  to 
farmers  who  have  had  to  depend  in  the  past  on  loans 
from  the  Jewish  organizations  backing  the  colonies,  or 
on  private  lenders  in  Palestine.  The  latter  have  charged 
interest  at  the  rate  of  10  per  cent,  and  more. 

But  the  Moslems  say  that  all  these  activities  on  the  part 
of  the  Jew  prove  that  political  Zionism  aims  at  nothing 
less  than  Jewish  control  of  the  Holy  Land  and  everything 
and  everybody  in  it.  There  is  a  story  of  an  American 
who  found  a  Jewish  friend  weeping  at  the  "Wailing 
Place." 

"What  is  the  matter  with  you?"  he  asked. 

"Me?     I'm  waiHng!" 

"What  are  you  wailing  for?  Aren't  there  plenty  of 
Jews  in  Jerusalem?  And  haven't  you  got  a  Jew  for  a 
governor?" 

"Yes,  I  know,  but  I  want  the  Mosque  of  Omar." 

202 


THE  ZIONIST  MOVEMENT 

There  are  also  Jews  who  favour  a  more  moderate 
Zionism,  and  fear  that  setting  up  a  Jewish  state  will 
make  trouble  both  in  Palestine  and  in  the  countries  where 
Jews  are  now  citizens  with  a  part  in  business  and  public 
affairs. 


203 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THE   world's   oldest  CITY 

STAND  with  me  on  the  slope  of  the  Lebanon  Moun- 
tains and  take  a  look  over  Damascus.  We  have 
I  climbed  the  road  cut  out  for  Kaiser  Wilhelm,  the 
Emperor  of  Germany,  when  he  visited  this  region, 
and  are  now  on  a  bare  lofty  hill  which  the  Mohammedans 
consider  one  of  the  holy  spots  of  the  world.  It  is  where 
the  prophet  Mohammed  stood  and  gazed  at  that  mag- 
nificent town,  the  Damascus  of  his  day.  After  staying 
here  for  hours,  he  turned  away  with  a  sigh,  saying: 

"I  dare  not  go  in.  Man  can  enter  paradise  but  once, 
and  if  I  go  into  Damascus,  this  paradise  on  earth,  I  shall 
not  be  able  to  enter  the  paradise  of  the  hereafter.'* 

According  to  the  Mohammedans,  Abraham  first  re- 
ceived the  divine  revelation  of  the  unity  of  God  in  Damas- 
cus; and  Josephus  says  that  the  town  was  founded  by  Uz, 
the  great-grandson  of  Noah.  The  Bible  tells  us  that 
Abraham  had  a  steward  who  came  from  Damascus,  and 
we  know  that  King  David  besieged  and  conquered  the 
place.  There  is  no  doubt  that  it  is  one  of  the  oldest 
towns,  if  not  the  very  oldest,  upon  earth.  It  was  in  exist- 
ence before  the  days  of  Rameses  and  Thebes,  before 
Alexandria  sprang  into  greatness  on  the  Mediterranean 
shores,  and  while  Nebuchadnezzar  was  chewing  grass  in 
the  gardens  of  Babylon.  It  was  old  long  before  Athens 
had  begun  to  be,  was  already  gray-haired  when  Rome  was 

204 


It  is  in  the  horse  market  that  nun  foregather  to  trade  and  gossip  or  to 
enjoy  a  cooling  drink  from  such  a  bottle  as  is  shown  here 


"O  Allah,  send  customers,"  cr\'  the  bread  sellers  in  Damascus,  as  they 
squat  in  the  street  with  their  stock  and  scales 


The  beautiful  rugs  oftheOrient  are  all  hand-made,  from 
carding  and  spinning  the  wool  to  the  long  months  of  weaving 
in  the  lovely  patterns.  But  there  is  more  time  in  the  East 
than  we  hustling  Westerners  ever  find 


THE  WORLD'S  OLDEST  CITY 

a  baby,  and  antedates  any  of  the  cities  of  the  present.  It 
is  now  one  of  the  most  thriving  centres  of  the  Moham- 
medan world. 

Damascus  lies  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Lebanon  Moun- 
tains about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  northeast  of 
Jerusalem,  and,  as  the  crow  flies,  about  fifty-three  miles 
from  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  It  is  an  oasis  city  sur- 
rounded by  deserts.  It  is  fed  by  two  cold,  clear  rivers 
flowing  out  of  great  springs  in  the  mountains  of  Lebanon 
and  making  green  this  sandy  plain  in  which  they  are 
lost.  These  rivers  are  the  Abana  and  Pharpar  of  the 
Bible.  You  remember  how  Naaman,  the  leper,  referred 
to  them  when  Elisha  told  him  to  go  and  wash  in  the 
Jordan  seven  times  and  his  flesh  would  be  clean.  Where- 
upon Naaman  replied: 

"Are  not  Abana  and  Pharpar  rivers  of  Damascus  better 
than  all  the  waters  of  Israel?  May  I  not  wash  in  them 
and  be  clean?"     So  he  turned  and  went  away  in  a  rage. 

You  remember  also  how  one  of  his  servants  told  Naaman 
that  Elisha  was  asking  a  little  thing  of  him  and  how  he 
then  went  down  and  bathed  in  the  murky  Jordan,  "and 
his  flesh  came  again,  like  unto  the  flesh  of  a  little  child, 
and  he  was  clean." 

As  we  stand  on  the  hill  of  Mohammed  at  the  north- 
west end  of  the  city  and  look  at  Damascus  we  do  not 
wonder  at  Naaman's  contempt  of  the  Jordan.  We  have 
seen  that  the  latter  is  a  winding,  rocky,  semi-alkaline 
stream  which  flows  through  a  desert,  the  great  gorge  or 
depression  of  Ghor.  It  has  a  scanty  vegetation  along 
its  banks  and  flows  through  a  valley  of  death  to  the 
great  salt  sea  known  as  "The  Dead."  The  Abana,  or 
Barada,  as  it  is  now  called,  and  the  Pharpar,  now  called 

205 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

Barber,  are  pure  mountain  streams.  The  former  is  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  whole  world.  I  have  trav- 
elled along  it  almost  to  its  source.  It  is  a  rushing  river  of 
pure,  clear  green  water  which  spreads  life  over  all  that  it 
touches.  Together  with  the  Barber  it  makes  green  the 
great  plain  which  lies  below  us  and  builds  up  the  orchards 
of  almonds,  apricots,  apples,  and  the  rich  crops  which 
cover  it,  as  well  as  the  white  city  of  Damascus  rising  in 
its  centre. 

Now  turn  your  eyes  to  the  city  itself.  There  it  lies 
under  these  magnificent  mountains  with  its  luxuriant 
gardens  and  orchards  surrounded  by  deserts.  Within  and 
without  silver  poplars  cast  their  green  shadows  over  the 
houses.  The  town  has  been  compared  to  a  pearl.  It  is 
shaped  very  like  one.  My  guide,  Shammas,  who  stands 
beside  me,  tells  me  that  it  looks  like  a  camel,  and  a 
second  glance  shows  me  the  head  and  neck  of  the  beast 
reaching  out  to  a  point  where  lies  a  railway  station  of 
the  road  going  to  Mecca.  The  road  itself  is  the  long  neck 
of  the  camel  and  farther  back  is  the  body,  the  minarets 
forming  the  hump.  "Now  look  again,"  says  Shammas, 
"and  see  if  it  is  not  like  a  fan!"  "Very  much  so,"  1  reply, 
"and  it  is  also  like  a  great  spoon  with  a  long  slender 
handle  and  large  oval  bowl." 

To  come  down  to  details,  Damascus  is  an  expanse  of 
pearly  white  tinged  with  the  pink  of  its  roofs.  The 
buildings  rise  high  over  the  green,  and  out  of  them,  like 
fingers  pointing  to  heaven,  are  the  minarets  of  two  hun- 
dred mosques,  with  the  mighty  dome  of  the  Great  Mosque 
in  the  centre.  At  the  right  of  the  latter  are  the  arched 
roofs  of  bazaars  which  have  been  famous  for  ages,  while 
away  off  from  the  rest  is  a  big  yellow  building  with  a 

206 


THE  WORLD'S  OLDEST  CITY 

roof  of  red  tiles.  That  is  the  centre  of  Moslem  fanati- 
cism, where  for  centuries  thousands  of  Mohammedan 
soldiers  have  been  quartered.  At  times,  a  few  years 
ago,  even  they  have  let  loose  their  religious  fury  and 
slaughtered  Christians  living  in  the  city. 

Damascus  is  a  Mohammedan  city.  It  has  about  three 
hundred  thousand  people,  four  fifths  of  whom  follow  the 
Prophet.  It  has  also  about  thirty  thousand  Greeks,  eight 
thousand  Jews,  and  lesser  numbers  of  Syrians,  Armen- 
ians, Persians,  and  Druses.  These  people  are  very  de- 
vout. One  sees  them  reading  their  Korans  in  their 
shops,  and  at  the  mosques  I  have  observed  a  score  or  more 
of  the  Faithful  washing  themselves  before  they  go  into 
their  prayers.  The  mosques  are  full  of  turbaned  men, 
old  and  young,  who  pray  singly  and  in  groups,  and  in 
many  one  finds  companies  of  worshippers  under  a  leader. 
There  are  also  many  classes  listening  to  the  explanations 
of  the  Koran  by  the  priests,  and  there  are  men  reading 
by  themselves. 

But  come  down  with  me  from  the  hill  and  take  a  stroll 
through  the  city.  This  is  Sunday,  and  we  shall  first 
visit  the  mosques.  There  are  seventy  large  ones,  where 
sermons  are  preached  every  Friday,  and  one  hundred  and 
seventy-seven  which  might  be  called  chapels,  connected 
with  which  are  Mohammedan  schools.  Many  of  these 
mosques  have  libraries,  and  in  all  of  them  the  chief  study 
is  theology,  including  the  Koran  and  the  traditions  of  the 
prophets.  After  that  comes  law,  then  philosophy,  logic, 
and  grammar.  Modern  sciences  are  unknown,  and  all 
other  branches  of  learning  are  entirely  neglected. 

One  of  the  chief  centres  of  Moslem  religious  life  is  the 
Great  Mosque.     This  is  one  of  the  finest  of  Mohammedan 

207 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

churches.  It  stands  in  the  centre  of  the  city  and  covers 
about  seven  acres,  or  almost  twice  as  much  space  as  the 
Capitol  at  Washington.  In  the  great  court  paved  with 
marble  is  a  fountain,  said  to  mark  the  half-way  station 
on  the  route  from  Constantinople  to  Mecca.  It  is  there 
that  the  worshippers  bathe  parts  of  their  bodies  before 
going  to  their  prayers.  On  the  other  side  of  this 
enormous  court  is  the  mosque  proper,  the  oblong  floor 
of  which  covers  an  acre.  Many  great  columns  uphold 
its  roof,  and  other  columns  stand  between  it  and  the 
court. 

Entering  this  room,  we  find  two  thousand  men  and  per- 
haps a  hundred  women  at  worship.  Nevertheless,  the 
building  seems  empty.  The  worshippers  are  scattered 
over  the  floor.  The  women  are  alone,  and  the  men  dare 
not  look  at  them.  They  are  closely  veiled  and  do  not 
notice  us  as  we  go  by.  Most  of  the  men  are  on  their 
knees  or  sitting  upon  the  floor.  Before  coming  into  the 
church  all  have  removed  their  shoes,  which  now  lie  be- 
side or  in  front  of  them.  The  floor  is  covered  with  costly 
rugs,  presents  from  devout  Mohammedans.  Think  of 
roofing  a  large  field,  upholding  the  roof  by  mighty  col- 
umns, and  then  carpeting  that  field  with  oriental  rugs 
any  one  of  which  would  be  fit  to  hang  upon  your  walls 
as  a  treasure,  and  you  have  a  suggestion  of  the  picture 
now  before  us. 

There  are  strange  things  in  the  mosque.  In  its  centre 
is  a  marble  chapel  supposed  to  stand  over  the  ashes  of 
the  head  of  John  the  Baptist.  Men  are  sitting  before 
the  chapel  with  their  heads  toward  Mecca,  and  they 
rise  and  fall  as  they  pray  to  John  the  Baptist,  the  fore- 
runner of  Christ,  and  to  Mohammed  as  the  prophet  of 

208 


The  transportation  monopoly  of  the  Bedouin  and  his  camel  is  threatened 
to-day  by  the  invading  automobile  and  motor  truck 


At  the  end  of  the  Booksellers'  Bazaar  looms  the  Dome  of  the  Mosque, 
built  amid  the  ruins  of  a  Christian  church,  which  was  itself  preceded  on 
the  same  site  by  a  Roman  temple 


THE  WORLD'S  OLDEST  CITY 

God.  Thus  religion,  like  politics,  makes  strange  bed- 
fellows. 

Damascus  is  the  heart  of  the  Mohammedan  world. 
At  its  back  is  Persia,  altogether  Mohammedan.  At  its 
south  are  Palestine  and  Arabia,  more  Moslem  than 
Christian,  while  at  the  north  are  other  realms  of  Islam. 
All  around  it  the  people  are  Mohammedans,  who  hate 
the  Christians  and  massacre  them  whenever  they  can. 
This  was  the  case  in  the  spring  of  1909,  when  thousands 
were  killed  and  a  terrible  slaughter  of  Christians  by 
heathens  took  place  in  this  region.  Multitudes  were 
massacred,  and  it  was  only  because  the  great  Christian 
nations  of  Europe  were  afraid  of  their  pocketbooks  and 
of  the  loss  of  that  balance  of  power  which  might  result 
from  a  war  that  the  Turkish  Empire  was  not  wiped  out 
as  a  punishment  therefor.  The  matter  was  hushed  up, 
and  but  little  of  the  true  story  was  told  in  the  papers.  I 
refer  to  the  bloodshed  throughout  Asia  Minor  when  the 
sultan,  Abdul  Hamid,  was  overthrown  by  the  Young 
Turks  and  his  brother,  Mohammed  V,  was  put  in  his  place. 

Another  strange  object  in  the  Great  Mosque  is  the 
holy  tent  of  the  pilgrim  caravan.  This  is  used  during 
the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  which  generally  starts  at  Damas- 
cus. Every  Moslem  is  bound  to  make  this  pious  journey 
at  least  once  in  his  life,  and  the  followers  of  the  Prophet 
gather  here  from  all  directions  for  the  trip  to  their  holy 
city. 

As  they  approach  Mecca  they  take  off  their  clothes, 
laying  aside  everything  from  the  soles  of  their  feet  to  the 
crowns  of  their  heads.  They  then  put  on  aprons,  and 
carrying  only  a  piece  of  cloth  over  the  left  shoulder, 
walk   into   the   city.     They   march   around   the   sacred 

209 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

Kaaba  and  kiss  the  black  stone.  They  pelt  Satan  with 
rocks  in  the  Valley  of  Mina,  and  end  their  pilgrimage 
with  a  great  sacrificial  feast,  at  the  end  of  their  Lent, 
when  the  festival  of  Beiram  begins. 

I  have  not  seen  these  pilgrim  caravans,  but  they  are 
said  to  be  extremely  interesting.  Many  of  the  rich  go 
on  camel  litters  something  like  the  mule  litters  used  in 
north  China.  These  are  beds  slung  between  poles  which 
are  fastened  to  camels,  one  going  before  and  the  other 
behind  and  trained  to  keep  step.  The  camels  are  adorned 
for  the  occasion  with  coins,  shells,  and  other  ornaments, 
besides  hundreds  of  small  bells  which  jingle  as  they  march. 
In  advance  of  the  procession  is  a  large  camel  litter  hung 
with  green  cloth  and  embroidered  with  gold.  This  con- 
tains the  green  flag  of  the  Prophet  and  one  of  the  oldest 
copies  of  the  Koran  now  in  existence.  In  addition  to  the 
worshippers  themselves  there  is  always  an  escort  of  sol- 
diers and  Bedouins.  There  are  also  many  half-naked 
dervishes  who  sing  and  howl  and  cut  themselves,  shouting 
out  texts  from  the  Koran  as  they  go  on  their  way. 

It  is  a  question  whether  the  railway  from  Damascus 
to  Mecca  will  not  cause  this  great  caravan  to  become  a 
thing  of  the  past  as  far  as  the  travel  between  Damascus 
and  Mecca  is  concerned. 

During  my  stay  here  I  have  gone  out  to  the  cemetery 
to  see  the  tomb  of  Mohammed's  favourite  daughter  Fa- 
tima.  Mohammed  had  several  wives  in  addition  to  the 
four  which  he  allows  to  each  of  his  followers.  His  first 
wife  was  Khadija,  the  widow  whose  fortune  made  him 
prominent  and  whose  servant  he  was.  As  I  remember 
it,  she  was  his  first  convert.  Two  of  his  other  wives  and 
Fatima  are  buried  here,  and  every  Thursday  many  veiled 

2IO 


THE  WORLD'S  OLDEST  CITY 

women  come  to  mourn  at  their  graves.  Fatima's  tomb 
is  a  little  domed  mosque  about  fifteen  feet  square  with  a 
praying  alcove  facing  toward  Mecca.  Her  body  lies  in  a 
marble  sarcophagus,  which  stands  on  a  pedestal  covered 
with  green  velvet  and  with  a  piece  of  green  cloth  at  its 
head.  As  I  looked  at  the  tomb  I  saw  several  rags  tied 
to  the  bars  of  the  window  and  was  told  that  they  were 
put  there  as  the  pledges  of  sick  persons,  showing  that  they 
would  give  money  to  the  mosque  if  they  should  be  cured. 

The  tomb  of  Saladin,  the  great  Mohammedan  general 
who  fought  Europe  during  the  Crusades,  is  also  in  Damas- 
cus. It  is  in  a  small  mausoleum  attached  to  the  Great 
Mosque.  At  the  head  of  the  marble  sarcophagus  is  a 
glass  case  in  which  lies  the  golden  wreath  placed  on  Sa- 
ladin's  tomb  by  the  German  Kaiser.  Because  this 
wreath  had  a  cross  worked  into  its  design  it  gave  deep 
offence  to  the  Damascenes,  who  demanded  its  removal 
from  the  shrine.  But  the  Kaiser's  "great  and  good 
friend,"  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid,  ordered  it  to  remain,  as  it 
was  placed  there  by  the  Emperor  of  Germany. 

I  have  spent  some  time  tracing  the  footsteps  of  St. 
Paul,  the  apostle.  You  will  remember  that  he  was  one 
of  the  Jewish  officials,  and  was  "breathing  out  threaten- 
ings  and  slaughter  against  the  disciples  of  the  Lord" 
when  he  got  the  high  priest  to  give  him  letters  to  the  syn- 
agogues of  Damascus,  that  he  might  bring  such  Chris- 
tians as  he  found  there  to  Jerusalem  for  trial.  He  was 
on  his  way  here  and  was  not  far  from  the  city  when  the 
light  from  heaven  shone  round  him  and  blinded  him,  and 
the  Lord  said  unto  him: 

I  am  Jesus  whom  thou  persecutest;  it  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick  against 
the  pricks. 

21  I 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

You  remember  how  the  bHnd  Paul,  or  Saul,  as  he  was 
then  called,  was  led  into  Damascus  to  the  house  of  a  man 
named  Ananias,  not  the  husband  of  Sapphira,  however, 
or  any  associate  of  the  champion  liar  of  history.  You 
recall,  how,  when  he  came  there,  he  again  received  his 
sight  and,  being  converted,  was  baptized.  It  was  the 
house  of  this  Ananias,  according  to  Shammas  and  the 
guide  books,  that  I  visited  the  other  day.  I  found  the 
Ananias  of  the  present  by  no  means  averse  to  a  small 
gift  of  silver.  He  took  all  my  spare  change  and  then 
asked  for  more.  I  later  discovered  that  the  authenticity 
of  the  house  is  questioned  and  there  is  another  Ananias 
house,  which  is  now  used  as  a  chapel.  I  looked  for  the 
house  of  Naaman  the  Syrian,  and  was  shown  an  old 
building  occupied  by  lepers. 

It  was  in  the  Street  called  Straight  that  Ananias  met 
Paul.  This  is  one  of  the  principal  highways  of  the 
Damascus  of  to-day.  It  leads  from  the  chief  gate  on 
the  south  to  the  bazaars  and  is  about  the  only  straight 
street  in  the  city.  It  goes  right  through  Damascus  and  is 
so  wide  that  two  or  three  carriages  can  pass  on  it.  It  is 
the  centre  of  traffic,  and  while  there  I  saw  caravans  of 
camels,  donkeys,  and  horses  bringing  in  and  taking  out 
all  kinds  of  goods.  One  line  of  camels  was  loaded  with 
poplar  trees  as  long  as  telegraph  poles.  The  ends  of  the 
poles  dragged  in  the  road  as  they  walked.  Behind  them 
came  donkeys  with  panniers  of  green  cucumbers  and 
horses  loaded  with  baskets  of  Jaffa  oranges,  each  as  big 
as  the  head  of  a  baby.  A  mule  followed  the  horses.  It 
was  loaded  with  butter  from  the  interior  packed  in  black 
leather  bottles  of  the  shape  and  size  of  a  tin  dinner  bucket. 

St.  Paul  had  a  lively  time  in  Damascus.     He  preached 

212 


THE  WORLD'S  OLDEST  CITY 

in  the  synagogue  and  confounded  the  Jews.  After  a  while 
the  Jews  took  counsel  to  kill  him,  and  they  watched  the 
gates  day  and  night  for  that  purpose.  It  was  then  that 
his  friends  took  him  by  night  and  let  him  down  over  the 
wall  in  a  basket. 

This  very  place  is  now  shown,  and  I  have  made  a 
photograph  of  the  spot.  The  wall  is  a  great  structure  of 
stone  with  a  mud  parapet  on  top.  There  is  a  house  on 
the  top  of  the  wall  at  the  place  indicated.  This  has 
windows  with  great  bars  across  them,  and  it  is  very  easy 
to  imagine  how  St.  Paul  might  have  been  let  down  from 
such  a  place  when  he  made  his  escape. 


213 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

SHOPPING    IN    THE    STREET   CALLED    STRAIGHT 

Lus  go  this  morning  for  a  walk  through  the  ba- 
zaars of  this  the  oldest  of  all  the  world's  cities. 
They  are  more  oriental  than  those  of  Tunis  or 
Cairo  and  more  quaint  than  those  of  Constan- 
tinople. 

Take  the  Street  called  Straight,  up  which  St.  Paul  came 
to  meet  Ananias.  It  is  a  vaulted  tunnel  where  the  only 
light  comes  through  little  windows  in  the  roof,  which 
rises  to  a  height  of  about  one  hundred  feet.  Suppose  you 
could  cover  lower  Broadway  at  the  top  of  its  third-story 
windows,  and  in  place  of  the  doors  and  windows  of  plate- 
glass  have  the  walls  made  up  of  cave-like  stores  opening 
out  on  the  roadway.  Let  each  store  have  a  floor  about 
as  high  above  the  street  level  as  the  seat  of  a  chair,  and 
let  it  be  filled  with  the  most  gorgeous  goods  of  the 
Orient.  Let  each  have  its  turbaned  or  fez-capped  merchant 
sitting  on  the  floor  at  the  front,  with  workmen  similarly 
dressed  labouring  away  in  the  rear.  The  bazaars  of  Da- 
mascus are  made  up  of  many  such  vaulted  streets  so  roofed 
that  only  dim  light  comes  in  through  the  little  windows 
high  up  overhead.  The  shops  are  mere  holes  in  the 
walls,  but  they  are  packed  full  of  goods.  The  walls  be- 
tween them  are  little  more  than  partitions  of  boards,  and 
there  is  hardly  a  business  establishment  where  the  tradi- 
tional bull  of  the  china  shop  could  turn  round  without 

214 


SHOPPING   IN  STREET  CALLED  STRAIGHT 

losing  his  hide.  The  customers  bargain  standing  out  in 
the  roadway,  or  sitting  on  the  floors  of  the  stores  and 
hanging  their  heels  in  the  street. 

Each  trade  has  its  own  section  and  we  walk  for  blocks 
filled  with  booths  containing  only  one  kind  of  goods. 
Here  is  the  saddle  bazaar.  The  air  is  heavy  with  the  rich 
smell  of  leather.  Harness  hangs  from  the  walls,  and  in- 
side are  saddles  for  camels,  donkeys,  and  horses.  There 
are  gay  trappings  for  Arabian  steeds,  and  leather  buckets 
in  which  one  can  carry  water  with  him  over  the  desert. 
There  are  also  necklaces  of  blue  beads  to  put  on  your 
horses  to  ward  off  the  evil  eye,  as  well  as  other  charms  for 
the  journey. 

The  harness  shops  are  twelve  feet  deep  and  each  is  a 
little  factory  where  two  or  three  saddlers  are  at  work. 
In  some  places  they  are  making  harness  of  wool  and  in 
others  trappings  of  leather  beautifully  decorated. 

A  little  farther  on  we  come  to  a  bazaar  selling  panniers 
for  camels  and  donkeys,  while  not  far  away  is  a  street 
where  they  handle  nothing  but  shoes.  The  cobblers  are 
turning  out  footgear  of  wood,  wool,  and  leather.  They 
are  cutting  out  sandals  somewhat  like  the  rain  shoes  of 
Japan.  The  finer  ones,  which  are  beautifully  inlaid  with 
mother-of-pearl,  are  for  the  better  class  women.  Such 
shoes  are  used  at  home  and  when  madame  goes  to  the 
bathhouse.  They  are  worn  without  stockings.  In  an- 
other place  the  merchants  are  selling  shoes  of  red  leather 
such  as  are  used  by  the  country  people  and  the  poorer 
Damascenes.  They  are  of  goatskin,  camelskin,  or  cow- 
hide, and  have  no  heels.  The  leather  is  not  very  well 
tanned,  the  shoes  being  kept  on  the  lasts  until  sold. 

The  average  shoe  shop  is  about  fifteen  feet  wide,  ten 

215 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

feet  deep,  and  twelve  feet  in  height.  The  stock  is  hung 
to  wooden  nails  driven  into  the  walls  both  in  and  outside 
the  shop.  The  men  customers  stand  in  the  street  and 
try  on  the  shoes  without  the  assistance  of  the  merchant. 
The  women  examine  the  shoes  through  the  eye  slits  of 
their  veils  and  guess  at  the  sizes. 

A  very  odd  boot  is  that  worn  by  the  Bedouins.  It  is 
of  goatskin  dyed  yellow  or  red  and  has  heels  of  camelhide 
with  an  iron  strip  running  round  each  of  them.  This 
boot  reaches  half  way  to  the  knee.  None  of  the  shoes 
is  made  by  machinery,  and  most  of  them  are  sewed 
rather  than  pegged. 

How  would  you  like  to  have  your  hat  blocked,  ironed, 
and  brushed  for  a  cent?  That  is  what  you  can  do  in 
Damascus.  The  hat  bazaar  has  scores  of  shops  for  the 
purpose.  The  most  common  cap  is  the  red  fez,  a  round 
felt  bowl  which  fits  tight  around  the  head  without  rim 
or  brim.  It  is  about  five  inches  high,  and  must  be 
pressed  every  few  days  to  keep  it  in  shape.  The  hatter 
has  a  zinc-covered  table  in  which  are  several  small  holes 
filled  with  fires  of  burning  charcoal.  He  has  brass 
frames  or  blocks  over  which  the  caps  fit,  and  shells  of 
metal  which  may  be  clamped  upon  them  to  hold  the  fez 
in  form.  After  this  the  frame  is  laid  over  one  of  the  fires, 
and  in  a  moment  the  heat  gives  the  cap  the  latest  and 
most  fashionable  shape. 

Other  bazaars  are  devoted  to  the  selling  of  silks  and 
still  others  to  the  finest  of  cloths.  The  wealthier  Mo- 
hammedans have  their  long  robes  made  of  the  best  pos- 
sible stuffs,  for  they  delight  in  rich  garments.  The 
women  shop  in  these  bazaars.  They  peep  out  through 
their  veils  as  they  examine  the  goods  and  will  bargain  an 

216 


SHOPPING  IN  STREET  CALLED  STRAIGHT 

hour  in  buying  a  needle.  I  am  told  that  they  sometimes 
raise  their  veils  to  entice  the  merchants  to  lower  their 
prices,  but  if  so,  I  have  not  seen  them,  and  I  have  been  told 
by  my  guide  that  if  I  wish  to  keep  my  head  on  my  shoulders 
I  had  best  turn  my  eyes  in  another  direction. 

There  is  one  Damascus  bazaar  where  I  walk  carefully, 
and  as  far  as  possible  keep  in  midstreet.  It  is  called  the 
Louse  Market,  and  you  may  know  why  when  I  tell  you 
that  it  is  devoted  to  second-hand  clothes.  The  bazaar  is 
just  back  of  the  citadel  and  not  far  from  the  Straight 
Street.  From  morning  until  evening  it  is  filled  with  custom- 
ers and  dealers;  auctioneers  walk  back  and  forth  through 
it,  each  carrying  a  garment  which  he  holds  up,  asking  for 
bids.  He  praises  his  goods  to  the  skies  and  tells  the  crowd 
that  he  is  willing  to  sell  them  for  a  song. 

Yesterday  I  spent  a  short  time  in  the  booksellers'  ba- 
zaar, but  my  guide  Shammas  dragged  me  away,  fearing 
that  we  might  be  insulted  and  mobbed.  The  dealers  are 
such  strict  Mohammedans  that  they  do  not  wish  even  to 
sell  to  the  Christians.  The  shops  are  near  the  gate  of  the 
Great  Mosque  and  among  their  wares  are  many  copies 
of  the  Koran.  Picking  one  up,  I  asked  the  merchant 
the  price. 

He  scowled  and  angrily  exclaimed :  "  Put  it  down !  Put 
it  down !     We  do  not  sell  our  holy  books  to  the  Christians." 

Thereupon,  as  I  saw  he  was  growing  angry,  I  dropped 
it,  saying:  "We  Christians  are  glad  to  give  or  sell  our 
Bibles  to  any  one,  and  as  for  your  Korans,  I  can  buy  them 
by  the  ton  in  New  York  or  London." 

The  Moslems  here  are  noted  for  their  hatred  of  Chris- 
tians, and  one  of  the  bloodiest  massacres  of  modern  times 
occurred    in    Damascus    about    sixty    years    ago.     The 

217 


THE  HOLY   LAND  AND  SYRIA 

people  are  little  changed  to-day,  and  they  are  about 
as  ignorant  as  they  were  then.  The  chief  books 
sold  are  religious.  There  are  also  some  story  books  and 
copies  of  the  "Arabian  Nights,"  either  in  parts  or  as  a 
whole. 

During  our  trip  through  the  bazaars  we  find  the  tastes 
of  the  Mohammedan  stomach  everywhere  in  evidence. 
These  people  like  good  food,  and  it  seems  to  me  they  eat 
from  morning  till  night.  Pedlars  carrying  candy,  lem- 
onade, and  cakes  march  through  the  streets  crying  their 
wares  while  bread  men  sit  on  the  sidewalks  with  their 
stocks.  The  most  common  bread  is  a  flat,  round  cake  as 
thick  as  the  buckwheats  we  have  for  breakfast,  and  a 
foot  or  more  in  diameter.  These  cakes  are  white  or 
brown.  They  are  so  pliable  that  they  can  be  doubled 
up  without  breaking.  They  are  often  used  to  pick  the 
meats  out  of  a  stew.  The  Orientals  do  not  use  forks, 
claiming  that  their  own  hands  are  much  cleaner.  They 
have  a  saying  that  "everyone  knows  whether  he  has 
washed  his  own  hands,  but  no  one  knows  who  washed 
the  forks."  Another  kind  of  bread  is  like  a  gigantic 
shoe  sole  without  the  heel,  and  another  is  a  round  biscuit 
about  an  inch  thick. 

But  here  comes  a  man  selling  candy.  Take  a  bite  of 
it  and  your  mouth  will  flow  water  like  the  rivers  which 
feed  this  city  and  make  fertile  its  plains.  Damascus  is 
noted  for  its  sweetmeats,  and  its  candies  are  shipped  far 
and  wide  over  the  world.  The  sweets  are  sold  in  the 
bazaars,  some  of  the  merchants  having  large  shops. 
There  is  one  dear  old  turbaned  sheik  who  has  a  cell  in 
the  candy  bazaar  where  you  can  buy  nuts  and  fruits  fit 
for  the  queen  of  the  fairies.     His  sugared  almonds  are 

218 


SHOPPING   IN  STREET  CALLED  STRAIGHT 

the  joy  of  the  tourist,  and  his  Turkish  delight,  a  soft, 
sweet,  transparent  paste,  with  pistachios  and  other  small 
nuts  scattered  through  it,  is  a  dish  for  the  gods. 

Stop  a  moment  and  listen  to  the  cries  of  the  pedlars. 
Shammas  will  interpret  them  for  us.  Here  is  a  man 
selling  bread  hot  from  the  oven.  He  yells:  "Ya  renak" , 
or,  "God,  send  me  a  customer,"  and  follows  by  showing 
a  cake  and  saying,  "All  this  for  two  cents."  Another 
coming  behind  cries  out  in  Arabic:  "Buy  my  bread  and 
the  good  God  will  nourish  you,"  and  a  third  says:  "My 
cakes  are  food  for  the  swallows  and  the  delight  of  tender 
and  delicate  girls." 

Here  comes  a  lemonade  man.  He  has  a  big  glass  jar 
slung  to  his  back  with  a  neck  so  shaped  that  he  can  tilt 
its  contents  into  a  cup.  He  has  two  brazen  bowls  which 
he  holds  in  his  hands  and  rattles  as  he  shouts:  "Drink 
and  refresh  thy  heart."  Another  pedlar  has  ice-cream 
the  coolness  of  which  he  cries  up  in  the  words:  "Balak 
sunnak,"  or  "Take  care  of  your  teeth,"  meaning  it  is 
so  cold  it  will  make  your  teeth  ache.  Fruit  is  sold  the 
same  way,  as  well  as  cooked  meats  of  various  kinds. 
There  is  one  salad  which  the  men  call  out  is  so  tender 
that  if  an  old  woman  eats  it  she  will  fmd  herself  young 
in  the  morning. 

A  good  deal  of  food  is  bought  by  the  charitable  and 
given  to  beggars.  Some  even  buy  bread  for  the  dogs, 
hoping  thereby  to  acquire  merit  and  thus  pave  their 
road  to  the  Mohammedan  heaven. 

Making  our  way  through  the  crowds  we  reach  a  region 
of  cook  shops,  restaurants,  and  cafes  not  far  from  the 
butcher  shops.  The  latter  sell  most  kinds  of  meat,  in- 
cluding camel,  beef,  mutton,  and  Iamb.     The  mutton  is 

219 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

fine.  The  sheep  are  of  the  fat-tail  variety,  and  when 
skinned  and  dressed  for  the  market  their  tails  are  left  on. 
These  hang  down  over  their  backs  in  great  lumps  of  fat, 
looking  like  a  loaf  of  fresh  dough  ready  for  baking. 
Sometimes  they  have  the  form  of  a  heart  four  or  five  inches 
thick  and  eight  inches  wide.  Such  a  tail  will  weigh  fifteen 
pounds.  Upon  a  live  sheep  it  hangs  down  at  the  rear  like 
a  woolly  apron,  and  when  raised  looks  like  a  miniature  sail, 
showing  an  expanse  of  bare  white  skin  beneath. 

Another  interesting  part  of  business  Damascus  is  com- 
posed of  long  streets  of  cave-like  vaults  floored  with  cement 
and  divided  up  into  compartments  piled  high  with  grain, 
beans,  or  flour.  This  is  the  grain  bazaar.  One  of  the 
compartments  may  hold  a  hundred  bushels  of  wheat  and 
another  a  like  quantity  of  oats,  barley,  or  lentils.  There 
are  bins  filled  with  Indian  corn  and  bins  of  caraway  seeds. 
The  grain  lies  on  the  floor  and  is  scooped  up  and  measured 
to  order.  Camels  come  in  bringing  great  bags  of  wheat 
and  go  out  carrying  other  grains  to  various  parts  of  the 
city.  The  country  about  Damascus  which  can  be  irri- 
gated is  exceedingly  rich  and  produces  large  crops.  A 
great  deal  of  grain  is  brought  from  the  plains  beyond  the 
Jordan  and  on  the  east  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  known  as  the 
hauran,  and  this  grain  is  shipped  from  Damascus  to  other 
parts  of  Syria  and  across  the  Mediterranean  to  Europe. 

Indeed,  the  trade  of  Damascus  is  extensive.  The  city 
makes  goods  of  various  kinds  which  are  shipped  all  over 
the  world.  It  is  noted  for  its  beautiful  brass  and  silver 
ware,  its  inlaid  woodwork,  and  its  oriental  rugs.  It  has 
large  caravan  trade  with  Persia  and  other  parts  of  Turkey, 
and  long  lines  of  camels  are  always  bringing  in  and  carry- 
ing out  goods.    There  are  some  great  buildings  called 

220 


SHOPPING   IN  STREET  CALLED  STRAIGHT 

khans  devoted  to  wholesaling  and  warehousing.  I  vis- 
ited one  of  these.  It  was  shaped  much  like  a  mosque, 
being  lighted  by  nine  great  domes  the  tops  of  which  were 
at  least  one  hundred  feet  above  the  dirt  floor.  The 
domes  were  upheld  by  stone  pillars.  The  floor,  which 
covered  almost  an  acre,  was  packed  with  merchandise. 

In  one  part  of  it  were  bags  of  wheat  piled  high  toward 
the  roof;  in  another  hundreds  of  boxes  of  dates.  In 
other  parts  were  barrels  and  crates  of  fruit  and  bales  of 
oriental  rugs  laid  one  upon  the  other.  Some  of  the  bales 
were  enormous,  one  equalling  a  load  for  a  two-horse 
wagon.  I  was  told  that  they  came  from  Bagdad.  There 
were  a  number  of  these  khans  in  Damascus  at  the  time  of 
Christ,  and  there  are  several  now  in  use.  The  space  in 
them  is  rented  out  to  merchants,  the  owners  doing  a  gen- 
eral warehousing  business. 

But  come,  let  us  go  to  the  silver  bazaar. 

This,  like  the  warehouse  establishment,  is  under  one 
roof.  It  is  composed  of  scores  of  silversmith  shops  or 
booths  scattered  over  a  large  room  of  more  than  an  acre. 
Each  merchant  has  his  own  little  quarter.  He  sits  be- 
hind a  desk  or  counter,  and  has  a  rude,  old-fashioned 
safe  at  the  rear.  At  the  right  and  left,  or  still  farther 
back,  are  his  mechanics,  who  are  working  in  silver  and 
gold,  making  all  sorts  of  jewellery.  Each  has  a  little  anvil 
before  him  and  a  miniature  furnace  with  a  blow  pipe,  by 
which  he  melts  and  shapes  the  metal  to  the  desired  form. 
The  pounding  can  be  heard  everywhere.  We  ask  some  of 
the  merchants  to  show  us  their  wares.  They  bring  out 
heavy  chains  of  silver,  and  gold  rings  set  with  diamonds  and 
pearls  and  some  magnificent  pigeon-blood  rubies.  There 
are  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  jewellery  under  this  roof. 

221 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

The  customers  are  both  men  and  women,  the  former 
in  gowns  and  turbans  and  the  latter  in  great  black  sheets 
with  veils  over  their  faces.  We  stop  and  watch  the  buy- 
ing and  selling.  There  is  a  woman  looking  at  a  bracelet 
of  gold.  The  jeweller  weighs  it  on  rude  little  scales  and 
then  adds  the  cost  of  the  labour.  The  woman  is  not 
satisfied  with  the  price.  She  calls  him  a  thief,  and  de- 
mands that  he  do  not  rob  her  children  of  bread.  It  may 
be  an  hour  before  the  bargain  is  made. 

I  am  frequently  asked  what  one  can  buy  in  these  or- 
iental cities  which  is  worth  while  taking  home.  Damas- 
cus is  a  good  shopping  place  for  the  tourist.  Since  it  is 
somewhat  off  the  main  line  of  travel,  one  can  pick  up 
oriental  things  comparatively  cheap.  I  have  bought 
several  rugs  which  have  come  here  by  caravan  from 
Bokhara,  two  of  which  are  at  least  one  hundred  years  old. 
I  will  not  give  the  prices  except  to  say  that  they  are  much 
below  those  at  which  they  could  be  bought  in  New  York, 
and  the  merchant  has  agreed  to  pay  the  duties  upon  them 
and  to  deliver  them  to  my  house  in  Washington. 

Among  the  many  other  things  sold  are  silk  head  shawls 
such  as  are  used  by  the  Bedouins,  and  table  covers  of  red 
or  black  woollen  cloth  embroidered  with  silk. 

A  great  many  Americans  take  home  brassware  from 
Damascus,  and  not  a  few  purchase  swords  inlaid  with 
silver  and  with  the  Damascus  blades  for  which  the  city 
has  been  noted  for  ages.  Some  of  these  swords  are  imi- 
tations imported  from  Germany,  while  other  "oriental" 
wares  come  from  Manchester,  being  made  especially  for 
this  trade.  Indeed,  one  must  keep  his  eye  open  if  he 
would  buy  genuine  curios  in  any  part  of  the  world. 


222 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

THE    VEILED    WOMEN    OF   DAMASCUS 

HO!  YE  bold,  bright-eyed,  fair-skinned  girls  of 
America !  Forget  the  infinity  of  changing  styles 
with  which  you  are  free  to  please  us  every  year 
and  take  a  look  at  your  sisters  of  Damascus  in 
far-away  Syria. 

How  would  you  like  to  exchange  your  life  for  theirs? 
How  would  you  like  to  spend  your  days  without  showing 
your  face  to  the  light  of  the  sun?  How  would  you 
like  to  go  about  in  a  great  bag  of  black  silk  tied  in  at 
the  waist  so  that  it  covers  your  form  from  the  head 
to  the  feet  except  for  a  short,  thick  veil  of  black  through 
the  meshes  of  which  you  can  just  feel  your  way  along 
the  street? 

How  would  you  like  to  be  penned  up  in  the  back  of 
your  house,  or  to  have  your  front  windows  so  latticed 
that  you  could  see  out  only  through  holes  as  big  around 
as  a  lead  pencil?  Aye,  more,  how  would  you  like  never 
to  talk  to  any  man  but  one  of  your  own  family,  and  worse, 
never  even  to  be  seen  by  any  other  man  or  boy? 

This  is  the  condition  of  the  girls  of  this  fanatical  city 
of  Damascus.  It  is  the  fate  of  millions  of  other  women 
of  the  Mohammedan  world. 

Within  the  past  thirty  years  I  have  visited  every  Moslem 
country  on  earth,  and  have  worn  out  my  eyes  trying  to 

223 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

see  through  the  veils  which  hide  the  fair  sex.  In  Morocco 
their  faces  are  covered  with  cotton,  and  they  peep  out 
through  the  crack  made  by  pulHng  the  cloth  slightly 
apart  in  front  of  the  face.  In  Kairouan  the  girls  cover 
their  faces  with  black  crepe  so  thick  that  you  cannot 
tell  whether  they  are  negroes  or  whites;  and  in  Tunis 
they  are  so  shrouded  in  balloon-like  robes  as  hardly  to  be 
able  to  walk.  In  Zanzibar  the  girls  wear  bags  which 
cover  them  to  the  feet,  and  their  only  view  of  the  world 
is  through  peepholes  as  big  as  a  fifty-cent  piece  hedged 
across  with  lace  netting  so  that  no  man  shall  see  in.  In 
Egypt  the  headdress  comes  down  to  the  eyebrows,  and  a 
veil  extends  from  there  to  the  knees,  with  the  exception 
of  a  crack  for  the  eyes,  the  crack  being  kept  open  by  a 
gold  or  brass  spool  resting  on  the  bridge  of  the  nose.  In 
Constantinople  the  fashionable  Turks  are  doing  away  with 
the  veil  or  using  thin  white  gauze  through  which  the  face 
can  be  plainly  seen.  It  is  thus  that  the  ladies  of  the 
harem  of  the  Sultan  are  dressed,  and  thus  the  wives  of  all 
the  rich  men. 

Here  in  Damascus  the  women  stick  to  veils  of  flowered 
muslin  or  black  crepe  and  wrap  themselves  in  great  bil- 
lowy cloaks  of  black  silk  or  calico.  These  bulge  out 
above  and  below  where  they  are  tied  at  the  waist,  making 
each  maiden  look  like  two  huge  lumps  of  sausages.  Every 
time  I  go  through  the  city  I  see  hundreds  of  them  wad- 
dling along.  They  throng  the  bazaars,  where  they  bob 
back  and  forth  as  they  talk  with  the  merchants.  They 
may  be  seen  picking  their  way  through  the  side  streets 
or  sitting  on  the  floors  of  the  mosques  reading  the  Koran 
and  watching  the  men  go  through  their  prayers.  Many 
of  the  shrouded  figures  are  those  of  small  girls.     They 

224 


The  street-dress  of  the  woman  of  Damascus  is  a  bag  of  black  silk  tied 
in  at  the  waist  and  a  black  veil  so  thick  that  she  can  hardly  see  her  way 
about.  Feminism  and  style-changes  make  little  headway  in  Moslem 
lands 


I  am  five  feet  eight  inches  tall  but  could  not  reach  to  the  upper  edge 
of  this  fragment  of  one  of  the  giant  columns  at  Baalbek.  Once  a  centre 
of  worship  of  Baal,  there  were  built  later  temples  to  Jupiter,  Mercury, 
Venus,  and  Bacchus 


THE  VEILED  WOMEN  OF  DAMASCUS 

take  the  veil  at  eleven  or  twelve  and  keep  it  on  after 
marriage  and  indeed  until  death. 

And  then  the  houses!  All  of  the  Mohammedans  have 
homes  so  latticed  that  the  women  cannot  be  seen  from  the 
streets.  In  some  cases  the  windows  are  built  over  the 
sidewalks,  hanging  out  like  cages  of  wooden  network. 
This  is  true  even  in  the  new  apartment  houses  which 
are  now  going  up,  as  well  as  in  the  huts  of  the  poor,  al- 
though the  latter  seldom  have  windows  except  at  the 
back.  The  ordinary  lattice  is  made  of  canelike  rushes 
or  sticks,  and  preparing  them  is  a  special  trade  followed 
by  many.  The  rushes  are  brought  in  to  Damascus  on  the 
backs  of  donkeys,  which  as  they  go  fill  the  streets  with 
their  loads. 

It  behooves  the  Mohammedan  woman  to  be  strict  in 
her  conduct.  The  husband  here  has  most  of  the  rights, 
and  can  divorce  his  wife,  or  wives,  whenever  he  will. 
He  sometimes  does  so  without  thinking,  and  that  to  his 
sorrow.  I  heard  of  such  a  case  yesterday.  According  to 
the  laws  of  Damascus,  if  a  man  wishes  to  get  rid  of  his 
wife  he  has  only  to  say,  "I  divorce  you!  I  divorce  you! 
I  divorce  you!"  and  the  woman  must  leave.  Once  she 
has  gone  she  cannot  come  back  as  a  wife  until  after  she 
has  been  married  to  someone  else.  To  get  around  this, 
an  angry  husband,  relenting  and  longing  for  the  dear  de- 
parted, arranges  to  marry  her  to  a  friend,  a  dervish,  or 
some  half-crazy  man,  who  for  a  sum  will  go  through  the 
ceremony  of  a  wedding  and  immediately  divorce  the 
woman,  who  can  then  be  married  again  to  her  former 
husband.  In  the  case  referred  to  the  man  had  a  petty 
quarrel  with  his  wife,  and  angrily  muttered  the  words  of 
divorce.     As  soon  as  she  had  gone  he  repented,  and  there- 

225 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

upon  brought  about  her  marriage  with  an  alleged  friend, 
with  the  understanding  that  a  divorce  was  to  follow  right 
after  the  ceremony.  The  friend,  however,  refused  to 
utter  the  words  of  divorce,  saying,  "  I  like  the  woman 
and  will  keep  her  myself,"  and  so  it  is  at  this  writing. 

Such  divorces  are  always  on  the  part  of  the  husband. 
As  for  the  women,  they  have  more  difficulty  in  getting 
rid  of  the  marriage  tie,  although  they  can  do  so  provided 
the  husband  does  not  perform  his  duty  to  them  or  give 
them  an  equal  amount  of  attention  with  the  other  wives 
of  the  family.  According  to  Mohammed  every  man  had 
the  right  to  four  wives,  but  the  Koran  provides  that  he 
must  spend  an  equal  time  with  each  of  them,  and  in  some 
places  he  is  required  to  give  each  a  separate  establishment. 

During  my  travels  in  the  Holy  Land  I  have  picked  up 
some  interesting  stories  of  marriage  and  divorce.  Every 
sect  has  its  own  customs.  The  Jews  can  divorce  easily, 
and  after  that  they  can  marry  again.  The  orthodox 
Greeks  can  marry  only  three  times,  and  some  of  the 
Christians  are  not  allowed  a  divorce  without  cause. 

In  all  of  the  Jewish  weddings  the  girl  brings  a  dowry, 
the  amount  of  the  dot  being  mentioned  in  the  contract 
of  marriage.  This  contract  is  always  signed  in  the 
presence  of  the  rabbi,  and  the  wedding  ceremony  takes 
place  under  a  tent  in  the  court  of  the  synagogue.  Be- 
fore marriage  the  orthodox  bride  is  shaved  from  her 
head  to  her  feet,  after  which  her  head  is  always  kept 
covered.  At  the  ceremony  and  after  it  they  have  music, 
with  drums,  cymbals,  and  harps;  and  many  of  the  old- 
fashioned  customs  of  Bible  times  are  observed.  The 
Jews  marry  young,  and  a  girl  is  an  old  maid  at  twenty. 

The  Mohammedans  of  the  villages  usually  take  wives 

226 


THE  VEILED  WOMEN  OF  DAMASCUS 

in  their  early  teens,  marriages  at  twelve  years  being  not 
uncommon.  This  is  the  case  only  with  the  girls.  The 
men  are  usually  older,  and  it  is  customary  for  mature 
men  to  marry  young  girls  and  to  add  to  their  harems  as 
the  first  wives  grow  older.  In  such  cases  the  groom  pays 
money  to  the  father  of  the  bride.  This  is  the  reverse  of 
the  Jewish  marriages,  where  the  money  goes  to  the  groom. 
The  price  for  a  Moslem  wife  ranges  from  one  hundred 
dollars  upward,  according  to  the  financial  condition  of 
the  contracting  parties.  The  contracts  are  made  by  the 
older  people  of  the  family.  If  there  is  a  father  he  decides 
upon  the  marriage.  If  the  father  is  dead  the  eldest 
brother  may  act,  or  in  some  cases  the  mother. 

The  customs  as  to  the  right  of  the  family  to  dictate  the 
marriage  are  rigid.  The  other  day  a  peasant  living  near 
Jerusalem  had  a  sister  who  ran  away  with  her  lover  and 
married  him.  This  was  after  the  family  had  objected  to 
the  match.  The  peasant  took  a  revolver  and  went  after 
the  bridal  couple.  He  caught  up  with  his  brother-in- 
law  in  Jerusalem  and  shot  him  dead  on  the  street.  When 
arrested  he  justified  the  crime  and  he  is  now  imprisoned 
awaiting  trial.  I  am  told  he  will  get  ofi"  with  a  slight 
punishment,  as  he  has  acted  within  his  rights  according 
to  the  Koran. 

Among  the  city  Mohammedans  the  bridegroom  makes 
a  present  of  a  dowry  sufficient  to  enable  his  bride  to  pur- 
chase her  trousseau  and  household  furniture.  He  may 
give  her  six  or  eight  hundred  dollars,  the  greater  part  of 
which  will  be  paid  to  her  nearest  male  relative  before  the 
wedding  takes  place.  On  the  other  hand,  he  and  that 
relative  may  buy  the  outfit  together,  making  items  of 
the    various   things   and    their   cost.     Often   the   whole 

227 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

dowry  is  not  paid  at  once,  25  or  30  per  cent,  being  left 
until  after  the  wedding.  This  is  not  demanded  except  in 
case  of  divorce,  and  it  is  considered  a  premium  that  will 
insure  good  treatment  from  the  husband. 

The  bride  seldom  even  sees  the  groom  before  the  wed- 
ding, and  the  couple  never  meet  until  that  time.  The  in- 
vestigations of  both  families  are  carried  on  by  the  fathers 
and  mothers  independent  of  the  real  parties  to  the 
marriage. 

When  a  boy  is  old  enough  to  have  a  wife,  let  us  say 
at  seventeen,  his  parents  begin  to  look  about  for  a  suit- 
able girl.  The  mother  goes  to  the  harems  of  her  ac- 
quaintances, and  asks  about  the  daughters.  She  also 
visits  the  girls'  schools,  and  when  she  has  found  a  maiden 
who  she  thinks  may  suit  she  invites  the  mother  of  the 
girl  to  meet  her  at  the  bath.  This  is  one  of  the  chief 
places  of  gossip  and  pleasure  and  it  is  not  uncommon  for 
ladies  to  meet  there.  To  the  bath  comes  the  prospective 
bride  with  her  mother  for  her  first  interview  with  her 
would-be  mother-in-law.  The  two  talk  and  gossip  to- 
gether. After  the  bath  is  over  they  have  something 
to  eat. 

There  is  more  talking,  and  the  girl  is  sized  up  mentally 
and  physically.  Upon  her  return  home  the  mother  of 
the  groom  tells  her  husband  the  result  of  her  investiga- 
tions, and  if  he  is  pleased,  negotiations  are  begun  with 
the  parents  of  the  bride.  If  agreeable,  the  dowry  is  fixed 
and  the  betrothal  is  made.  Neither  the  marriage  nor 
the  betrothal  can  be  consummated  without  the  consent 
of  the  girl.  The  man,  or  a  Mohammedan  priest,  appears 
at  the  door  of  the  harem  of  the  bride's  mother.  The 
girl,  who  is  behind  the  door,  is  asked  if  she  will  consent 

228 


Man  is  dwarfed  by  the  enormous  portal  of  the  Temple  of  Bacchus  con- 
sidered the  finest  architectural  feature  of  the  structure.  This  is  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  and  best  preserved  ruins  in  S\ria 


Standing  out  against  the  bk\  arc  these  might}'  columns,  all  that  re- 
main of  the  fifty-four  that  once  surrounded  the  Great  Temple  of  the 
Sun  at  Baalbek.  They  are  visible  to  the  traveller  long  before  he  reaches 
the  ruins 


THE  VEILED  WOMEN  OF  DAMASCUS 

to  the  match.  She  has  to  answer  "  I  will ! "  three  separate 
times,  after  which  the  amount  of  the  dowry  may  be  paid 
over  in  the  presence  of  witnesses. 

In  all  oriental  countries  the  wedding  ceremonies  are 
very  important.  The  marriage  is  always  an  occasion 
of  protracted  festivities,  and  not  to  be  invited  is  to  suffer 
a  grave  insult.  One  of  the  proverbs  here  is,  "  He  who  does 
not  invite  me  to  his  marriage  will  not  have  me  at  his 
funeral."  Among  the  Mohammedans  the  wedding  cere- 
monies often  last  a  week,  during  which  there  is  feasting 
on  the  part  of  both  families.  The  dinners  are  given 
before  the  wedding,  and  at  the  time  of  the  ceremony  sums 
of  money  are  thrown  to  the  beggars.  The  wedding 
feasts  usually  begin  Monday.  Tuesday  the  bride  is  taken 
to  the  bath  where  there  is  a  feast,  the  bridegroom  paying 
the  expenses  of  the  bathing  and  eating. 

Wednesday  the  bridegroom's  women  friends  go  to  the 
house  of  the  bride  where  they  have  a  concert  and  dinner. 
The  fingernails  and  toenails  of  the  bride  are  stained  red 
with  henna  and  they  begin  to  deck  her  out  for  the  wed- 
ding. Thursday  a  great  procession  escorts  the  bride  to 
the  groom's  house  where  the  two  eat  candy,  exchanging 
mouthfuls  or  bites,  the  idea  being  that  nothing  but  sweet- 
ness is  hereafter  to  pass  from  the  lips  of  one  to  the  other. 
The  bridegroom  has  not  seen  the  bride  until  this  time. 
He  says  a  prayer  in  her  presence,  kneeling  on  her  bridal 
veil  as  he  does  so. 

Among  the  Mohammedans  of  Palestine,  says  my  guide 
Shammas,  the  wedding  usually  takes  place  at  the  mosque, 
and  the  bridegroom  meets  his  bride  when  she  is  on  the 
way  thither.  Dressed  and  veiled  in  white,  she  is  carried 
under  a  canopy  on  the  shoulders  of  four  men.     At  the 

229 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

mosque  the  wedding  sermon  is  preached,  and  at  the  end 
of  this  the  bride  goes  to  the  house  of  her  husband.  As 
she  steps  over  the  threshold  she  bends  down  and  passes 
under  two  crossed  swords  upheld  by  his  friends.  This 
means  that  if  she  is  not  true  to  her  husband  he  will  kill 
her.  She  is  taken  first  to  the  women's  apartment  or 
harem  over  the  door  of  which  has  been  placed  a  piece 
of  leavened  dough,  thus  signifying  that  the  home  into 
which  she  has  come  will  flourish.  In  some  cases  the 
bride  breaks  a  piece  of  leavened  bread  and  gives  it  to 
the  young  people  to  eat. 

After  she  has  entered  her  own  apartment  in  the  groom's 
house  there  is  a  feast,  the  guests  sitting  on  the  floor  and 
eating  course  after  course  of  meats  and  vegetables  inter- 
spersed with  candies  and  sirups.  In  some  cases  the 
groom  has  to  make  the  bride  speak  before  the  dinner 
will  be  served,  and  it  is  a  virtue  with  her  to  keep  silent 
just  as  long  as  she  can. 

It  is  the  general  idea  among  Christians  that  Moham- 
medan wives  have  no  rights  which  their  husbands  are 
bound  to  respect.  I  am  told  this  is  not  so,  and  that  the 
women  here  not  infrequently  rule  their  husbands.  The 
cost  of  living  has  increased  so  much  within  recent  years 
that  it  is  only  a  rich  Mohammedan  who  can  afford 
several  wives.  Public  sentiment  as  to  the  rights  of  wo- 
men has  risen,  and  the  man  who  abuses  his  wives  is  not 
considered  respectable.  No  man  dares  address  a  strange 
woman  on  the  streets  of  any  Turkish  city,  and  in  the 
best-regulated  houses  the  husband  does  not  enter  the 
women's  apartments  when  he  knows  he  is  not  wanted, 
although  he  has  the  legal  right  to  go  there  at  any  time. 

The  Mohammedan  wife  has  the  entire  right  and  con- 

230 


THE  VEILED  WOMEN  OF  DAMASCUS 

trol  of  her  own  property,  and  if  she  brings  money  into  the 
family  she  does  not  hesitate  to  say  so.  She  has  about  as 
much  power  in  the  courts  as  our  women  have.  She  can 
sue  and  be  sued  and  can  even  enter  a  suit  against  her 
husband  in  regard  to  her  own  property.  She  can  make  a 
will  and  leave  her  property  as  she  pleases,  and  she  can 
force  him  to  pay  the  dowry  agreed  upon.  When  she 
marries  he  has  to  buy  the  wedding  gown,  and  if  he  di- 
vorces her  she  gets  back  her  trousseau. 

It  is  said  that  women  are  still  bought  and  sold  in  the 
Turkish  possessions.  Not  long  ago  there  was  a  regular 
trade  in  the  black  girls  who  were  brought  across  the 
Sahara  from  Central  Africa  and  shipped  through  Trip- 
oli into  Syria  and  other  parts  of  Turkey.  Before  the 
English  took  hold  of  Egypt  this  traffic  was  carried  on 
through  the  Nile  Valley  and  was  winked  at  by  the 
officials. 

According  to  the  law  of  the  Koran  marriages  with 
slaves  are  legal.  The  wives  of  the  Sultans  have  usually 
been  slaves  brought  in  from  Georgia  and  Circassia, 
plump  girls  with  fair  complexions  and  red  hair  bringing 
the  highest  prices,  perhaps  as  much  as  the  cost  of  half  a 
dozen  fine  white  horses.  I  hear  that  Circassian  girls 
often  welcomed  being  sold,  as  they  thus  escaped  the 
hardships  of  their  own  country.  Such  as  could  play 
on  the  zither  and  other  musical  instruments  always 
brought  more  than  the  ignorant.  In  the  past,  five 
thousand  dollars  was  not  a  high  price  for  a  Circassian 
girl,  while  any  good-looking  Georgian  maiden  of  twelve 
would  bring  two  hundred  dollars  and  upward.  The 
children  of  such  slave  wives  are  legitimate. 


231 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

BAALBEK   THE    WONDERFUL 

1AM  in  the  Valley  of  Lebanon,  the  high,  narrow  plain 
which  lies  between  the  two  ranges  of  the  Lebanon 
Mountains.  The  word  Lebanon  means  "white," 
perhaps  because  of  the  walls  of  chalk  or  limestone 
which  are  a  feature  of  the  whole  range.  Just  now  the 
highest  peaks  are  white  with  snow.  These  ranges  ex- 
tend north  and  south  parallel  with  the  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  Beginning  a  little  below  the  bor- 
der of  Asia  Minor,  they  lose  themselves  in  the  Holy  Land. 
In  reading  of  them  I  have  always  thought  they  were  only 
hills.  They  are  higher  than  any  mountains  of  our  coun- 
try east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  average  height  of  the 
range  nearest  the  coast  is  a  thousand  feet  greater  than 
that  of  Mount  Washington.  Mount  Hermon  is  more 
than  nine  thousand  feet  high  and  Jebel  Makmel  measures 
ten  thousand  two  hundred  feet.  The  elevation  of  the 
Valley  of  Lebanon  itself  is  twice  that  of  the  topmost 
peaks  of  the  Blue  Ridge  of  Virginia,  and  it  slopes  from 
here  to  the  north  as  far  as  Aleppo  and  to  the  south  beyond 
Dan,  where  rises  the  Jordan. 

In  this  little  valley,  which  is  less  than  one  hundred 
miles  long  and  from  five  to  eight  miles  wide,  walled  by 
these  mighty  mountains,  lie  the  ruins  of  Baalbek,  once 
the  most  wonderful  temples  known  to  the  ages.  I  have 
spent  hours  in  wandering  through  them,  and  their  im- 

232 


BAALBEK  THE  WONDERFUL 

mensity  and  beauty  steadily  grow  upon  me.  I  despair 
of  being  able  to  describe  them  and  can  only  hope  to  give 
you  bits  of  the  details. 

I  have  seen  most  of  the  world's  mighty  ruins.  In  the 
past  year  I  have  wandered  through  the  tombs  of  the 
Mings  outside  Mukden,  Manchuria;  I  have  stood  upon 
the  Temple  of  Heaven  in  Peking,  and  have  climbed  the 
great  Chinese  wall.  I  have  gone  through  the  Temples 
of  Karnak  at  the  hundred-gated  city  of  Thebes  far  up 
the  Nile;  I  have  taken  photographs  of  the  Colossi  of 
Memnon,  and  have  measured  the  stones  of  the  Pyramids 
with  a  two-foot  rule.  Not  long  ago  I  visited  the  Temple 
of  Boro  Boedor  in  the  heart  of  Java  to  describe  its  three 
miles  of  unique  carvings,  and  last  year  I  spent  some  time 
in  the  forts  of  the  Moguls  at  Delhi  and  wrote  of  the 
Taj  Mahal  and  its  marvellous  beauties.  I  have  also  seen 
Timgad,  the  excavated  city  on  the  edge  of  the  Sahara,  and 
have  lately  gone  through  the  Colosseum  at  Rome  and 
inspected  the  equally  imposing  amphitheatre  at  El  Djem 
in  the  heart  of  the  Tunisian  desert.  All  these  are  wonder- 
ful, but  Baalbek  is  their  superior. 

These  ruins  have  never  been  so  impressive  as  they  are 
now.  For  centuries  most  of  them  have  been  as  much 
buried  as  is  Herculaneum,  and  it  was  only  when  the 
Emperor  of  Germany  made  his  tour  through  this  part  of 
the  world,  that  they  began  to  be  brought  to  the  light  of 
day. 

I  have  marched  in  the  Kaiser's  footsteps  through 
Palestine  and  have  seen  there  the  churches  and  other 
monuments  which  he  had  erected.  Before  he  came  to 
Syria  he  stopped  at  Constantinople  with  the  Sultan 
Abdul  Hamid,  who  gave  him  a  permit  to  do  about  as  he 

233 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

pleased.  As  the  Kaiser  travelled  he  flattered  the  Mo- 
hammedans, the  Christians,  and  the  Jews.  He  was  alive 
to  every  possibility,  and  he  stamped  "Made  in  Germany" 
upon  every  city  he  visited.  In  Damascus  he  laid  a  golden 
wreath  on  the  tomb  of  Saladin,  the  famous  soldier  who 
fought  the  Crusaders;  and  about  Jerusalem  he  built 
hospitals,  schools,  and  a  great  sanatorium.  Here  at 
Baalbek  the  Sultan  gave  him  permission  to  do  anything 
he  liked.  In  the  Temple  of  the  Sun  is  a  tablet  bearing  an 
inscription  in  German  and  Arabic  testifying  his  regard 
for  the  Sultan  and  his  pleasure  at  visiting  the  ruins. 
Shortly  after  leaving  he  sent  German  scientists,  who 
organized  an  army  of  natives  and  put  them  to  work  ex- 
cavating the  temples.  The  Germans  laid  down  a  rail- 
road track  for  the  dirt  cars  to  carry  away  mountains  of 
earth  and  debris.  As  a  result  of  their  work  and  modern 
machinery  for  lifting  huge  stones  into  place  we  have  at 
last  a  view  of  these  most  wonderful  temples  more  as  they 
were  in  their  glory. 

But  first  let  me  tell  you  something  about  the  origin  of 
these  structures  and  the  gods  to  whom  they  were  dedi- 
cated. The  Arabs  claim  that  this,  rather  than  Damascus, 
is  the  oldest  city  in  the  world.  They  say  that  Adam 
lived  here,  and  that  it  was  between  here  and  the  Medi- 
terranean that  Cain  killed  Abel.  One  of  Adam's  favour- 
ite residences  was  Damascus,  and  Seth  lived  at  Nebi 
Schitt  in  the  Lebanon  Mountains.  They  will  show  you 
where  Noah  was  buried  and  the  town  in  which  Ham  lived. 
They  also  think  that  Nimrod  reigned  in  this  valley,  and 
they  have  a  tradition  that  when  an  angel  called  upon  him 
he  threw  the  holy  one  into  a  blazing  furnace  from  which 
he   came   out    unharmed.     They   locate    the   Tower   of 

234 


BAALBEK  THE  WONDERFUL 

Babel  at  Baalbek  and  believe  that  Nimrod  built  it.  Ac- 
cording to  another  legend,  Abraham  reigned  at  Damascus 
and  came  here  frequently.  It  is  also  well  known  that 
Solomon  had  a  city  named  Baalath,  in  which  other  gods 
than  Jehovah  were  worshipped.  Indeed,  it  is  said  that 
Solomon,  in  order  to  please  his  concubines,  built  a  temple 
here  and  that  he  had  a  castle  which  he  gave  as  a  present 
to  Balkis,  the  Queen  of  Sheba. 

Baalbek  was  well  known  in  the  days  of  the  Phoenicians 
and  was  a  great  city  in  the  time  of  Christ.  It  was  about 
a  hundred  years  after  that  that  the  finest  of  the  temples, 
the  ruins  of  which  we  see  to-day,  were  constructed. 
Then  the  Roman  civilization  was  in  the  height  of  its  glory, 
and  the  emperors  were  building  cities  in  north  Africa,  in 
Asia  Minor,  and  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  The  Romans 
put  up  the  temples  here  in  honour  of  Jupiter  (Baal), 
which  had  in  them  smaller  temples  to  Venus  and  Bac- 
chus. They  worshipped  Baal,  the  god  of  the  sun,  as  one 
of  the  greatest  of  their  deities,  although  they  had  other 
gods  without  number. 

As  to  the  worship  of  Baal,  there  have  been  gods  of  that 
name  almost  since  the  beginnings  of  history.  It  is  a 
question,  indeed,  whether  the  word  Baal  did  not  mean 
"  lord,"  being  a  general  term  for  male  gods  of  various  kinds. 
Later  on  the  Greeks  considered  Baal  the  god  of  the  sun, 
classing  him  with  the  god  represented  by  Helios,  in  whose 
honour  the  city  of  Heliopolis  in  Egypt  was  built.  The 
worship  of  Baal  runs  through  the  Bible.  Samuel  rebuked 
the  IsraeHtes  for  bowing  down  to  him,  and  Jezebel  had 
four  hundred  priests  of  Baal  who  were  confounded  by 
Elijah.  Indeed,  it  is  a  question  whether  Beelzebub,  or 
the  devil,  was  not  Baalzebub. 

235 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

Here  at  Baalbek  the  finest  statue  was  that  of  this  god. 
It  was  of  gold  and  represented  a  beardless  young  man 
clad  in  armour  standing  between  two  golden  bulls.  He 
held  a  whip  in  his  right  hand  and  a  thunderbolt  and  some 
ears  of  corn  in  his  left.  There  were  also  statues  of  Mer- 
cury and  Venus,  a  Hall  of  Bacchus,  and  statues  and 
statuettes  of  exquisite  workmanship.  These  images  were 
destroyed  by  the  early  Christians,  who  threw  down  parts 
of  the  temples  and  broke  up  the  carvings  in  their  de- 
testation of  all  pagan  art. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  pictures  of  the  ruins  and  of  the 
mighty  temples  as  they  were  in  their  wonderful  beauty. 
The  ruins  cover  more  than  ten  acres,  and  the  Great  Tem- 
ple alone  was  about  three  hundred  feet  long  by  one 
hundred  and  sixty  feet  wide.  It  had  a  roof  upheld  by 
Corinthian  columns  only,  six  of  which  are  now  standing. 
These  columns  are  eighty  feet  high  and  twenty-two  feet  in 
circumference.  In  entering  the  temples  I  went  up  a  gigan- 
tic staircase,  a  great  part  of  which  has  been  destroyed,  and 
came  into  what  is  known  as  the  forecourt,  which  is  about 
two  hundred  feet  wide,  and  the  floor  of  which  was  paved 
with  mosaic. 

We  next  went  through  another  court,  known  as  the 
Court  of  the  Altar,  which  must  cover  five  or  six  acres.  It 
is  a  mass  of  marble  and  granite,  gigantic  columns  and 
delicate  carvings  being  thrown  helter-skelter  together. 
Beyond  this  and  up  a  series  of  steps  are  the  ruins  of  the 
Great  Temple  itself.  At  the  left  is  the  exquisite  Temple 
of  Bacchus,  and  everywhere  are  great  shafts  of  marble 
so  wonderfully  carved  that  they  would  be  treasures  in 
any  museum. 

All  this,  however,  gives  no  idea  of  the  construction. 

236 


e^'."-- 

iJ  M^''' 


The  nomadic  Bedouins  live  in  brown  tents  so  low  that  the  people  have 
to  stoop  to  get  into  them.  They  camp  wherever  they  hnd  good  grazing 
for  their  stock 


The  desolation  of  the  once  heavily  wooded  mountains  of  Lebanon  is 
emphasized  by  the  lonel\-  grove  of  cedars.  This  grove,  far  up  among  the 
snows,  is  protected  bv  a  wall  and  contains  four  hundred  ver\-  old  trees 


BAALBEK  THE  WONDERFUL 

People  wonder  how  the  mighty  stones  of  the  Pyramids 
were  put  into  place,  and  books  have  been  written  to  show 
how  the  obelisks  were  taken  from  the  quarries  to  the  sites 
where  they  were  erected  as  monuments.  The  building 
of  the  temples  of  Baalbek  was  a  far  greater  mechanical 
triumph.  The  materials,  including  columns  weighing 
hundreds  of  tons,  had  to  be  brought  up  the  steep  Leba- 
non Mountains  and  carried  over  passes  higher  than  the 
tops  of  the  Alleghanies.  There  is  granite  here  which 
came  from  far  up  the  Nile;  there  are  marbles  from 
Greece,  and  great  limestone  blocks  from  the  quarries 
near  by.  The  temple  has  walls  sixty  feet  high,  and  the 
mighty  columns — seven  feet  in  diameter,  and,  including 
the  pedestals  and  capitals,  as  tall  as  an  eight-story  build- 
ing— rest  upon  a  platform  which  is  more  than  fifty  feet 
high.  These  mighty  pillars  are  put  up  in  three  sections 
each  twenty  feet  or  more  in  height  and  seven  feet  in 
diameter.  They  are  so  put  together  that  each  column 
looks  like  one  solid  block. 

In  the  walls  of  the  temple  foundation  are  what  are,  I 
venture,  the  biggest  building  blocks  ever  quarried.  One 
of  the  walls  has  three  great  limestone  blocks  each  of  which 
measures  sixty-four  feet  long,  thirteen  feet  wide,  and 
twelve  feet  thick.  If  such  stones  were  placed  end  to 
end  it  would  take  only  about  eighty  of  them  to  make  one 
mile.  These  stones  were  brought  from  a  quarry  about  a 
mile  away.  Some  of  them  have  been  placed  upon  the 
walls  at  a  distance  of  thirty  or  more  feet  from  the  ground, 
and  are  so  accurately  laid  that  a  knife  blade  cannot  be 
driven  between  them. 

I  got  an  idea  of  the  size  of  these  blocks  by  visiting  the 
quarries.     Just  outside  that  from  which  the  stones  came 

237 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

is  one  which  was  cut  out  of  the  rock,  but  for  some  reason 
or  other  was  not  carried  to  the  structure.  It  was  dragged 
only  a  few  feet  away  from  the  virgin  rock,  and  to-day 
lies  there  on  its  side,  half  buried  in  the  earth.  Upon 
its  top  I  walked  over  it.  It  is  so  wide  that  you  could 
drive  two  motor  cars  abreast  upon  it  without  risk  of  fall- 
ing over  the  edges,  and  an  English  traveller  here  says 
that  a  cricket  match  might  be  played  upon  its  face, 
putting  the  stakes  at  the  right  distance  apart  and  giving 
the  bowler  at  least  two  feet  at  the  end  for  his  run.  This 
block  is  as  smooth  as  a  marble  column  and  accurately 
square.  Each  side  of  it  measures  fourteen  feet  and  it  is 
about  seventy  feet  long.  If  it  were  stood  on  end  inside 
a  modern  ten-story  apartment  house  it  would  fill  ten 
rooms  one  above  the  other,  each  room  fourteen  feet 
square  and  seven  feet  high.  It  has  been  estimated  to 
weigh  fifteen  hundred  tons  and  if  cut  up  would  make  a 
good  load  for  thirty  flat  cars. 

Think  of  moving  stones  like  that  out  of  the  mountains 
and  up  and  down  hill  for  a  mile  without  the  aid  of  steam, 
electricity,  or  any  kind  of  machinery!  That  is  the  kind 
of  work  the  Romans  did  eighteen  hundred  years  ago. 
All  through  the  temples  you  may  see  examples  of  such 
huge  masses  moved  about  and  lifted  into  place. 

There  are  carvings  more  beautiful  than  anything  seen 
on  our  buildings  to-day.  On  some  of  the  blocks  still  in 
the  structure  I  saw  bunches  of  grapes  no  bigger  than  my 
thumb  as  beautifully  cut  as  though  made  by  nature. 
There  were  also  Cupids  and  cherubs  exquisitely  carved. 
It  was  said  of  the  artists  who  built  the  great  temples  of 
Delhi  and  Agra  in  India  that  they  worked  like  Titans 
and    finished   like    jewellers.     The   same  was    true   of 

238 


BAALBEK  THE  WONDERFUL 

the  Romans  of  the  reigns  of  Antonius,  Caracalla,  and 
Nero. 

I  have  taken  photographs  of  some  of  the  broken  col- 
umns with  myself  standing  beside  them  to  give  an  idea  of 
their  size.  I  am  five  feet  eight  inches  tall  and  the  large 
columns  are  fully  two  feet  more  in  diameter.  Some  of 
the  wonderful  carvings  are  those  which  form  the  frieze 
above  the  great  pillars  two  or  three  hundred  feet  high  up 
in  the  air.  Among  them  are  the  heads  of  gigantic  lions, 
each  head  as  big  as  a  flour  barrel  but  polished  like  a 
fine  marble  mantel.  Through  the  mouths  of  these  lions 
emptied  the  drains  of  the  roof. 

The  beauties  of  the  temples  will  be  preserved  from  now 
on.  They  are  under  official  guard,  and  tickets  which 
cost  a  dollar  apiece  are  required  of  all  who  go  in.  I  was 
shown  through  by  Dr.  Michel  Alouf,  an  archaeologist,  who 
explained  just  how  the  temples  looked  in  the  past.  He 
showed  me  where  the  early  Christians  had  erected  a 
church  inside  one  temple,  defacing  the  carvings  and 
breaking  the  noses  of  the  beautiful  statues.  They  took 
pleasure  in  destroying  the  work  wrought  by  heathen  art- 
ists in  honour  of  pagan  gods.  Next  came  the  Arabs,  who 
used  the  place  as  a  fort,  throwing  great  round  chunks 
of  marble  as  big  as  footballs  from  its  sheltering  walls. 
There  are  piles  of  these  marble  balls  inside  the  temple 
to-day.  They  were  probably  cut  from  the  columns. 
The  Arabs  made  a  mosque  in  the  temple.  They  wiped 
out  every  trace  of  the  Christian  religion  and  used  a  part 
of  the  church  for  a  bath.  After  them  came  an  earthquake, 
so  that  the  ruins  were  mostly  covered  up  until  the  Ger- 
mans began  their  excavations. 

I  am  stopping  here  in  the  little  town  of  Baalbek,  which 

239 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

stands  right  on  the  edge  of  the  ruins.  It  has  an  excellent 
hotel,  and  its  people  are  hospitable.  Its  population  of 
five  or  six  thousand  is  made  up  of  Mohammedans  and 
Christians.  Besides  a  small  garrison  of  soldiers,  there 
are  two  Greek  Catholic  monasteries  and  several  girls' 
schools.  The  children  followed  us  as  we  walked  about 
through  the  ruins,  selling  purses  made  of  Syrian  silk 
into  which  they  had  woven  a  design  of  the  six  great  col- 
umns of  the  temple.  They  also  asked  for  baksheesh,  and 
the  begging  palm  was  everywhere  thrust  out. 

I  am  surprised  at  the  scanty  forestation  of  these  moun- 
tains of  Lebanon.  I  had  expected  to  find  them  covered 
with  woods,  whereas  they  are  almost  treeless.  Their 
lower  slopes  are  well  cultivated  and  some  of  them  are 
terraced  almost  to  the  top.  Thousands  of  acres,  made  up 
of  little  patches,  rise  step-like  one  above  another,  covering 
the  hills  for  miles  and  miles.  These  patches  contain 
mulberry  orchards  and  vineyards.  There  are  also  peaches 
and  apples,  and  in  the  valleys  are  rich  fields  of  wheat, 
barley,  and  clover.  The  chief  formation  is  limestone, 
and  though  there  are  rocks  everywhere,  the  soil  seems 
wonderfully  rich. 

The  cedars  of  Lebanon  may  have  been  great  in  the  past, 
but  they  have  now  almost  disappeared.  The  only  ones 
left  are  situated  about  nine  or  ten  hours  from  Baalbek. 
The  trees  grow  in  the  thin  soil,  which  covers  the  white 
limestone,  the  ground  being  coated  with  spines,  cones, 
and  leaves.  Five  are  very  ancient  and  of  great  girth, 
but  the  tallest  is  not  more  than  eighty  feet  high.  The 
largest  of  all  is  about  fifteen  feet  thick,  so  you  see  they 
are  mere  sprouts  in  comparison  with  the  Big  Trees  of 
California  and  quite  small  as  compared  with  the  giants 

240 


Of  the  great  cedars  of  Lebanon  which  Solomon  used  in  building  his  tem- 
ple, only  a  few  are  left.  The  ancient  Israelites  regarded  these  trees  as 
the  ornaments  of  the  mountains  and  the  types  of  manly  strength  and 
beaut\' 


The  plain  of  Beirut  is  covered  with  luxuriant  gardens,  and  tree-lined 
avenues  lead  out  of  the  city.  Beirut,  one  of  the  oldest  cities  on  the 
Phoenician  Coast,  is  the  metropolis  of  Syria  and  Lebanon  and  the  sea- 
port of  Damascus 


BAALBEK  THE  WONDERFUL 

of  Washington  and  Oregon.  The  cedars  which  were  taken 
for  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  probably  came  from  the  region 
where  the  old  cedars  stand,  although  other  parts  of  the 
Lebanon  Mountains  may  then  have  been  covered  with 
woods.  The  logs  must  have  been  cut  in  the  forests  and 
carried  over  the  mountains  forty  or  fifty  miles  to  the 
seacoast.  The  rafting  was  done  under  the  direction  of 
King  Hiram  of  Tyre,  and  the  logs  were  probably  towed 
down  to  Jaffa,  and  thence  carried  up  the  mountains  of 
Judea  to  Jerusalem,  a  distance  of  about  forty  miles.  The 
cedars  bear  cones  about  as  large  as  a  goose  egg.  The 
leaves  or  spines  of  the  cones  are  solid  rather  than  de- 
tached, as  those  of  our  cedars  at  home.  The  wood  is 
whitish  in  colour;  it  is  soft,  and  for  building  is  far  inferior 
to  cypress  or  pine. 


241 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

ACROSS    THE    LEBANON     MOUNTAINS     BY    RAIL 

IT  SEEMS  almost  sacrilegious  to  travel  by  rail  over  the 
highways  of  the  Bible.  The  iron  tracks  are  laid  in 
the  pathways  of  the  prophets,  and  the  ghosts  of 
the  saints  may  be  roused  by  the  shriek  of  the  loco- 
motives. The  modern  traveller  can  cover  in  a  few  hours 
by  rail  distances  that  were  several  days'  journey  in  the 
times  of  our  Lord. 

My  first  railroad  trip  in  the  Holy  Land  was  from  the 
port  of  Jaffa  up  the  mountains  of  Judea  to  the  city  of 
Jerusalem.  My  second  was  on  the  Mecca  road  from  the 
lower  end  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  through  the  great  plains 
of  the  Hauran  to  Damascus  over  the  mountains  of  Leba- 
non to  Beirut  on  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  During  the 
latter  trip  I  went  from  Rayak,  in  the  Valley  of  Lebanon, 
between  the  two  ranges  of  mountains,  along  the  road 
which  has  been  built  northward  through  the  Coele- 
Syria  to  Aleppo. 

All  of  these  roads  are  comparatively  new,  and  some  are 
still  building.  The  Mecca  line  now  runs  as  far  south  as 
Medina,  where  Mohammed  came  after  his  flight  from 
Mecca,  and  where  his  tomb  is.  That  city  has  something 
like  forty  thousand  people  and  is  one  of  the  most  fanatical 
of  the  Moslem  centres.  It  will  be  the  chief  stopping 
place  on  the  way  to  Mecca. 

Mecca  lies  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  still  far- 

242 


ACROSS  THE  LEBANON  MOUNTAINS 

ther  south  and  the  track  is  being  laid  toward  that  point. 
When  the  first  surveys  were  made  there  were  two  Chris- 
tian civil  engineers  in  the  surveying  party,  but  the  people 
were  so  intolerant  that  these  men  were  kept  hidden  the 
greater  part  of  the  time  and  did  their  work  inside  the 
tents.  They  were  not  allowed  to  spy  out  the  land,  to 
see,  or  be  seen. 

The  Bedouins  are  now  causing  the  contractors  consid- 
erable trouble.  The  road  will  take  a  large  part  of  the 
pilgrimage  traffic,  which,  it  has  been  estimated,  is  worth 
to  Arabia  some  ten  million  dollars  a  year.  Much  of  the 
money  goes  to  the  owners  of  the  camels  and  the  leaders 
of  the  caravans,  who  are  Bedouins.  During  the  building 
of  the  road  many  of  these  have  been  employed  in  the 
construction  and  in  supplying  the  other  labourers  with 
food.  As  the  present  work  has  neared  its  completion, 
many  of  the  Bedouins  have  lost  their  jobs.  They  are  ob- 
jecting to  the  railway  and  have  torn  up  the  tracks  in 
many  places.  The  result  is  a  great  unrest  which  threat- 
ens to  cause  serious  disturbance. 

The  traffic  on  the  Constantinople-Damascus  and  Mecca 
railways  will  be  made  up  largely  of  men  on  their  way  to 
worship  at  Mecca  and  Medina.  Now,  with  nothing  but 
camels  to  carry  them,  it  is  estimated  that  about  four 
hundred  thousand  go  there  every  year,  and  it  is  believed 
that  the  railway  will  increase  the  traffic  from  fifty  to 
one  hundred  per  cent.  Christians  and  other  unbelievers 
will  not  be  carried  to  the  holy  cities,  although  they  may 
make  tours  to  Petra  and  other  parts  of  Arabia. 

This  Mecca  railway  will  have  special  accommodations 
for  Mohammedans.  Certain  of  the  carriages  will  be 
fitted  up  as  mosques,  so  that  the  travellers  can  perform 

243 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

their  devotions  during  the  journey.  The  praying  car- 
riages will  be  luxuriously  furnished.  The  floors  will  be 
covered  with  Persian  carpets,  and  around  the  sides  will 
be  painted  verses  from  the  Koran  in  letters  of  gold.  A 
chart  will  indicate  the  direction  of  Mecca,  so  that  the 
Faithful  can  always  face  the  right  way  when  praying,  and 
there  will  also  be  a  minaret  on  the  top  of  the  car  six  and 
a  half  feet  high. 

The  Mecca  road  is  a  narrow-gauge  with  French  rolling 
stock.  The  material  has  been  imported  from  Europe, 
the  ties  being  of  iron  to  withstand  the  white  ants,  which 
eat  anything  wooden.  One  of  the  great  difficulties  of 
construction  has  been  the  lack  of  water.  The  road  goes 
for  long  stretches  through  the  desert,  and  many  of  the 
trains  carry  large  tanks  to  keep  the  boilers  full. 

I  travelled  over  a  part  of  the  Mecca  road  on  my  way  from 
the  Holy  Land  north  to  Damascus.  Leaving  Tiberias 
in  the  early  morning,  I  was  rowed  by  four  lusty  Syrians 
across  the  Sea  of  Galilee  to  Semakh,  which  is  the  station 
on  the  lower  end  of  that  sea  and  the  place  where  a  branch 
line  runs  off  to  Haifa.  From  there  northward  we  skirted 
the  east  side  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  passing  the  hills  upon 
which  our  Saviour  preached.  We  rode  up  the  valley  of 
the  Yarmuk,  a  stream  almost  as  large  as  the  Jordan,  which 
loses  itself  in  the  Jordan  farther  south.  We  climbed  the 
foothills  of  Lebanon,  and  at  about  three  thousand  feet 
above  the  surface  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  reached  the  rich 
plain  of  Hauran,  the  great  bread  basket  of  the  Bedouins. 
It  grows  wheat  and  other  grain,  and  the  land  near  the 
track  was  covered  with  poppies,  golden  daisies,  and  wild 
red  hollyhocks. 

We  could  see  Bedouin  camps  everywhere.    These  no- 

244 


The  students  of  the  American  Universit\-  at  Beirut  number  nearly  a 
thousand,  and,  whether  Christian,  Jew,  or  Moslem,  must  stud\-  the  Bible 


The  stones  for  the  Tuberculosis  Hospital  at  Juneh  had  to  be  carried  up 
one  at  a  time  on  the  backs  of  camels 


From  Beirut  and  its  vicinity  come  nearlv  all  of  the  S\rian  immigrants 
to  the  United  States.  Most  of  them  are  Christians  and  many  of  them 
have  felt  the  influence  of  the  American  Universit\-,  the  centre  of  advanced 
thought  in  the  Near  East 


ACROSS  THE  LEBANON  MOUNTAINS 

mads  live  in  brown  tents  so  low  that  the  people  have  to 
stoop  to  get  in.  Outside  each  little  group  of  tents  was 
an  inclosure  for  the  stock,  and  on  the  lands  near  by  cat- 
tle and  camels  were  grazing.  As  we  travelled  we  could 
see  great  flocks  of  black  goats  feeding  on  the  sides  of  the 
Lebanon  Mountains.  They  hung  to  the  cliffs,  looking 
much  like  flies  on  the  wall.  There  were  also  droves  of 
black  cattle  and  many  flocks  of  fat-tailed  white  sheep. 

The  cars  were  crowded  with  Turks,  Syrians,  and  Bed- 
ouins, but  on  the  advice  of  a  friend  I  gave  the  conductor 
a  dollar,  and  in  return  had  a  compartment  all  to  myself. 
Baksheesh  will  do  anything  in  Syria.  As  Shammas,  my 
guide,  puts  it:  "The  franc  is  the  wheel  upon  which  the 
world  goes  round." 

This  road  to  Damascus,  beginning  with  the  branch  line 
to  Haifa,  skirts  the  edge  of  Mount  Carmel,  where  Elijah 
lived  in  a  cave  and  where  he  contended  with  the  four 
hundred  and  fifty  prophets  of  Baal  and  caused  their  de- 
struction. It  goes  up  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  where  the 
fair  Jezebel  lived  and  over  which  Jehu  galloped  to  Jez- 
reel  on  his  race  for  the  throne.  It  takes  you  in  plain 
sight  of  Mount  Tabor  and  under  the  hills  of  Nazareth 
where  the  Saviour's  boyhood  and  young  manhood  were 
spent.  It  crosses  the  spot  where  Jael  was  camping  when 
Sisera  came  and  she  lulled  him  to  sleep  to  drive  the  tent 
peg  into  his  forehead.  Then  it  goes  on  up  to  Damascus 
over  a  route  which  was  probably  travelled  by  Abraham, 
David,  and  Solomon,  and  by  St.  Paul  when  he  was 
blinded  by  the  great  light. 

The  road  to  Jerusalem  goes  over  the  plains  where  the 
Israelites  fought  with  the  Philistines,  through  the  country 
of  Samson,  which  I  have  already  described,  and  near  the 

245 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

place  where    David   with  his  h'ttle  stone  slew  the  great 
Goliath. 

The  railway  from  Damascus  to  Beirut  shows  you  Mount 
Hermon,  so  famed  in  the  Psalms,  and  passes  numerous 
places,  which,  according  to  the  Mohammedans,  were  the 
homes  and  tombs  of  the  prophets.  Take,  for  instance, 
Suk  Wady  Baroda,  a  little  valley  oasis  on  the  way  to 
Baalbek  made  up  of  flat-roofed  mud  houses  surrounded 
by  orchards  and  vineyards.  It  is  mentioned  by  Josephus 
and  is  referred  to  in  St.  Luke  as  the  home  of  the  tetrarch 
Lysanias.  The  Mohammedans  say  that  Adam  lived  in 
the  mountain  which  looks  down  upon  it,  and  that  it  was 
near  the  oasis  itself  that  Cain  became  jealous  of  Abel 
and  slew  him.  I  have  always  thought  that  Abel  was 
killed  with  a  club,  although  I  see  now  that  the  Bible  does 
not  mention  the  weapon  used  in  the  murder.  The  Mos- 
lem legend  says  it  was  a  stone.  The  story  is  that  Adam 
had  divided  the  world  into  two  sections  and  had  given 
one  of  them  to  each  of  his  boys.  They  had  marked  out 
their  respective  sections  with  stones,  when  a  dispute  arose 
concerning  the  boundaryline.  Cain  claimed  that  Abel  was 
inching  on  him,  whereupon  hot  words  passed,  and  Cain 
threw  a  rock  and  struck  Abel  in  the  temple  and  killed  him. 

According  to  the  Moslem  tradition,  Cain  was  filled  with 
remorse.  He  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  his  dead 
brother,  so  he  took  the  body  on  his  back  and  carried  it 
with  him  over  the  world  for  five  hundred  years.  At  the 
end  of  that  time  he  returned  to  this  mountain,  where  he 
saw  two  birds  fighting.  At  last  one  killed  the  other  and 
then  washed  and  buried  the  one  slain.  Cain  did  like- 
wise with  Abel,  and  straightway  there  sprang  up  seven 
oak  trees,  which  are  pointed  out  to  this  day. 

246 


ACROSS  THE  LEBANON  MOUNTAINS 

According  to  the  same  authorities,  Seth,  Adam's  son, 
who  took  the  place  of  Abel,  lived  on  the  western  slope  of 
the  Lebanon  range,  and  his  tomb  is  still  there.  A  mosque 
is  built  over  it  and  the  tomb  may  be  seen  through  an  iron 
grating.  It  is  eighty  feet  long,  but  the  people  living  in 
the  village  say  that  it  was  too  short  and  that  Seth's  legs 
had  to  be  doubled  up  in  order  to  fit.  Not  far  away  is 
the  tomb  of  Noah,  which  is  forty  feet  longer.  It  also 
has  a  mosque  connected  with  it. 

The  distance  from  Damascus  to  Beirut  is  ninety-one 
miles.  Travellers  are  advised  not  to  take  the  third  class, 
and  women  should  always  go  first  class.  The  third 
class  has  compartments  eight  feet  wide  running  across 
the  cars  at  right  angles  with  the  engine.  Each  compart- 
ment has  two  cushioned  benches  facing  each  other,  its 
sides  are  walled  with  windows,  and  there  is  a  door  at  each 
end.  The  conductor  does  not  go  through  the  cars,  but 
collects  the  tickets  from  the  outside,  walking  along  a 
running  board  which  extends  the  full  length  of  the  car 
and  holding  on  to  an  iron  rail  fastened  to  the  outside 
some  distance  above  the  step. 

The  road  is  picturesque  and  gives  magnificent  views 
of  the  Lebanon  Mountains.  The  track  winds  its  way  up 
and  down  the  hills,  and  the  western  side  of  the  range 
is  so  steep  that  the  cars  are  taken  up  on  cogs  after  the 
same  manner  as  on  Pike's  Peak,  Mount  Washington, 
and  the  Rigi.  There  are  twenty-five  stations,  mostly 
two-story  buildings  of  stone. 

The  passengers  are  the  conglomerate  mixture  of  human- 
ity found  in  this  part  of  the  Orient.  There  are  scores 
of  Syrians  in  long  coats  and  trousers,  some  wearing 
red  fezzes,  and  others  having  turbans  or  handkerchiefs 

247 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

wrapped  around  their  heads.  There  are  Turkish  officers  in 
uniform,  with  swords  at  their  sides,  fez-capped  boys  in 
silk  gowns,  and  other  Moslems  in  turbans  and  gowns. 
There  are  Mohammedan  women  clad  all  in  black  and 
wearing  black  veils.  There  are  pretty  Greek  girls  with 
bare  faces,  brown-skinned  women  from  the  mountains, 
and  Bedouins,  who  have  ropes  tied  about  the  kerchiefs 
which  half  shroud  their  fierce  features.  There  are  also 
Persians,  Druses,  and  Christians  of  all  sorts  and  condi- 
tions. 

The  trains  go  slowly  in  climbing  the  mountain.  The 
average  express  makes  less  than  sixteen  miles  an  hour, 
while  the  mixed  train  takes  twelve  hours  to  make  the 
ninety-one  miles. 

For  many  years  the  European  powers  have  been  schem- 
ing for  the  right  to  build  railroads  in  this  part  of  the  world. 
One  of  the  biggest  and  most  talked-of  projects  is  a  line 
to  open  up  the  rich  valley  of  the  Euphrates  where  Baby- 
lon and  Nineveh  once  flourished.  It  has  some  of  the 
best  lands  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  and  it  has  been  sug- 
gested that  it  was  the  site  of  the  Garden  of  Eden.  The 
British  are  especially  interested  in  the  project  because 
of  their  irrigation  plans  for  Mesopotamia  headed  by  Sir 
William  Willcocks,  the  engineer  for  the  Aswan  Dam, 
which  has  redeemed  about  seven  million  acres  in  Egypt. 
The  Germans  won  out  in  the  scramble  for  the  concession 
to  build  the  road  to  Bagdad.  The  line  was  divided  into 
sections  and  the  Germans  pushed  on  the  work  rapidly. 
Another  concession  to  part  of  this  line  was  granted  by 
the  Sultan  to  a  group  of  Americans,  but  their  plans  fell 
through. 

As  to  the  resources  to  be  developed  by  these  new  roads, 

248 


ACROSS  THE  LEBANON  MOUNTAINS 

they  are  beyond  description  enormous.  They  include 
rich  deposits  of  coal,  oil,  and  other  minerals.  Asia  Minor 
is  rich  agriculturally.  The  plains  of  Mesopotamia  will 
raise  anythmg  that  can  be  grown  in  Egypt,  and  the  new 
irrigation  schemes  will  make  them  as  productive  as  they 
were  when  Nebuchadnezzar  was  reigning  at  Babylon.  In 
ancient  times  that  country  had  a  population  of  more  than 
six  million.  It  has  not  one  fourth  as  many  to-day.  I 
am  told  that  cotton  will  grow  not  only  there  but  also 
throughout  Asia  Minor,  and  it  may  be  that  one  of  the 
chief  competitors  of  our  Southern  plantations  will  even- 
tually be  found  in  this  now  almost  waste  but  potentially 
rich  part  of  the  world. 

The  famous  Berlin-to-Bagdad  scheme  is  not  the  only 
evidence  of  the  German  Kaiser's  desire  to  gobble  up  as 
much  of  the  Near  East  as  possible.  I  use  the  word 
"  gobble "  advisedly.  According  to  the  Century  Dic- 
tionary, it  means  "  to  swallow  in  large  pieces,  to  swallow 
hastily,  to  seize  upon  with  greed,  and  to  appropriate 
graspingly."  And  that  aptly  describes  the  German 
methods.  I  have  seen  German  Kultur  at  work  all  during 
this  trip. 

In  the  richest  parts  of  Palestine  I  saw  their  flourishing 
colonies.  At  Jerusalem  I  saw  the  great  German  church 
built  under  the  very  shadow  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  their 
huge  church  on  Mount  Zion  beyond  the  Tower  of  David, 
and  the  enormous  limestone  hospice  erected  in  honour  of 
Kaiserin  Augusta  on  a  commanding  slope  of  the  Mount 
of  Olives.  It  is  said  that  the  money  with  which  the  site 
was  bought  and  some  of  that  used  in  the  building  was  a 
silver  wedding  present  to  the  Empress.  It  was  known 
that  she  greatly  loved  Palestine,  and  her  friends  planned 

249 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

this  memorial  as  a  silver  wedding  gift.  The  hospice  is 
several  hundred  feet  above  Jerusalem,  and  standing 
upon  its  roof  on  a  bright  day  one  can  look  across  the  hills 
of  Judea  and  see  the  silvery  thread  of  the  Jordan  and  the 
shining  Dead  Sea  with  the  blue  mountains  of  Moab 
beyond. 

The  Kaiser  was  no  respecter  of  persons,  either  living  or 
dead.  The  site  of  his  big  church  was  purchased  by  him 
of  Sultan  Adbul  Hamid  when  he  visited  him  in  Constan- 
tinople. He  went  there  on  his  way  to  the  Holy  Land, 
and  while  hobnobbing  with  the  Sultan  got  him  to  sell 
him  this  tract  for  twenty-four  thousand  dollars.  The 
land,  however,  was  not  large  enough,  so  the  Germans  by 
a  clever  trick  purchased  for  sixteen  thousand  dollars  the 
American  cemetery  which  adjoined  the  original  tract. 

The  Emperor  of  Germany  when  he  made  his  trip 
through  the  Holy  Land  created  as  great  a  sensation  as 
Theodore  Roosevelt  when  he  cavorted  through  Europe. 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  and  his  empress  started  in  at  Beirut 
and  crossed  the  mountains  of  Lebanon  to  Baalbek  and 
Damascus.  They  then  returned  to  Beirut  and  took  ship 
down  the  coast,  past  Tyre  and  Sidon,  to  the  Bay  of  Acre. 
Here  horses  were  waiting  for  them  and  they  rode  down 
around  the  slopes  of  Mount  Carmel,  over  the  plains  of 
Sharon  to  Jaffa,  and  thence  up  the  hills  of  Judea  to 
Jerusalem.  There  were  about  a  thousand  in  the  party, 
and  it  required  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  mules 
and  horses  to  carry  them  and  their  baggage.  The  Em- 
peror himself  had  a  staff  of  one  hundred  and  twenty, 
who  ate  at  his  own  tables,  and  there  were  in  addition  one 
hundred  and  forty  naval  and  military  officers.  The  Em- 
press also  had  her  ladies-in-waiting  with  her.     One  hun- 

250 


ACROSS  THE  LEBANON  MOUNTAINS 

dred  and  seventy-five  high  Turks  and  officials  were  sup- 
plied by  the  Sultan  as  a  special  escort.  The  Emperor's 
tour  was  so  arranged  that  he  had  four  camps.  He  slept 
in  a  different  camp  every  night  and  had  a  new  one  for 
each  meal. 

Although  the  journey  was  made  in  October,  the  weather 
was  hot,  and  the  chief  trouble  was  to  supply  the  expedi- 
tion with  water.  Some  died  of  thirst,  and  between  Haifa 
and  Jaffa  six  horses  dropped  dead  of  sunstroke.  It  was 
so  hot  that  the  trip  to  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  Jordan  was 
not  attempted,  but  the  Emperor  went  to  Bethlehem  and 
other  places  near  by.  He  remained  seven  days  at  Je- 
rusalem, during  which  time  he  consummated  his  pur- 
chases of  land. 

In  Palestine  I  encountered  a  German  tourist  agency,  a 
competitor  of  Thomas  Cook  &  Son.  This  tourist  agency 
had  its  own  hotels  at  Jaffa,  Jerusalem,  and  Haifa,  and  its 
own  guides,  dragomans,  horses,  and  carriages.  Its  men, 
who  thoroughly  understood  the  country,  had  established 
such  relations  with  the  Bedouin  tribes  that  they  could 
take  parties  anywhere.  The  agency's  road  mending  and 
other  activities  had  opened  up  many  hitherto  inaccessible 
parts  of  the  country.  Indeed,  the  Germans  started  a 
new  roads  movement  in  the  Holy  Land.  The  first  at- 
tempt was  made  when  the  Kaiser  went  from  Jaffa  to 
Jerusalem.  The  Sultan  had  the  highway  repaired,  and 
when  the  Germans  travelled  over  it,  it  was  watered  for 
the  first  time  in  its  history,  being  sprinkled  from  skin- 
bags  carried  from  the  shoulders  of  women  and  girls,  and 
filled  at  the  springs,  wells,  and  cisterns  near  by. 


251 


CHAPTER  XXX 

AMERICAN    LEAVEN    IN    THE    NEAR   EAST 

A  MERICAN  education  is  revolutionizing  the  Or- 
/\  ient.  It  has  been  one  of  the  chief  modernizing 
/  \  forces  in  Egypt,  it  had  much  to  do  with  the 
^  -^revolution  in  Persia,  and  it  is  the  basis  of  the  re- 
organization of  the  whole  Turkish  Empire.  The  first 
schools  of  Egypt  were  started  by  the  missionaries  of  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church,  whose  educational  insti- 
tutions now  cover  the  Nile  Valley.  This  church  has 
schools  in  the  Sudan  and  a  great  American  college  at 
Asyut,  several  hundred  miles  from  Cairo.  The  college 
was  started  in  a  donkey  stable  more  than  forty  years 
ago,  and  it  has  been  turning  out  graduates  ever  since. 
It  has  now  more  than  one  thousand  students  who  are 
housed  in  ten  large  two-story  buildings,  and  it  has  three 
of  the  finest  halls  to  be  found  in  the  East.  These  are 
situated  just  outside  Asyut,  at  the  junction  of  the  Nile 
with  the  great  canal  north  of  that  city.  The  college  has 
about  three  hundred  women. 

I  visited  the  college  at  Asyut  not  long  ago.  It  is  full 
to  overflowing,  and  notwithstanding  the  new  structure 
just  completed  it  needs  more  money  and  more  buildings. 
It  has  a  great  prestige  throughout  Egypt,  and  with  a 
little  money  its  efficiency  could  easily  be  doubled.  The 
college  is  said  to  give  a  better  education  than  the  govern- 
ment institutions,  and  that  at  the  lowest  possible  cost. 

252 


These  arc  not  stones  of  the  field,  but  great  blocks  of  marble,  many  of 
them  beautifully  carved — the  remains  of  the  wondrous  city  of  Diana 


Storks  build  their  nests  in  the  palaces  of  Kphesus  and  the  peasants  fence 
their  fields  with  chunks  of  marble  from  its  once  magnificent  temples 


There  is  a  great  rustling  as  the  silkworms  attack  their  breakfast  uf 
mulberry  leaves.  Every  year  representatives  of  the  silk  industr\-  in  the 
Lebanon  go  abroad  to  get  worms  for  breeding,  as  those  bred  in  that 
region  do  not  la\'  healthy  eggs 


AMERICAN  LEAVEN  IN  THE  NEAR  EAST 

The  tuition  is  nominal.  For  the  poorest  schools  it  is 
only  about  one  dollar  a  term  in  money,  and  the  ordinary 
rate  is  about  ten  dollars  a  year.  The  cost  of  the  educa- 
tion varies  with  the  taste  of  the  students.  These  are  of 
all  classes  from  the  sons  of  the  poorest  fellah  to  the  heir 
of  the  highest  pasha  or  richest  merchant.  There  are 
three  kinds  of  accommodations,  the  cost  of  which  ranges 
from  thirty-five  dollars  a  year  upward.  The  wealthy 
Egyptian  boy  can  have  his  own  room,  or  groups  can  live 
four  in  a  room.  He  can  eat  at  the  best  table,  or  he  can 
get  cheaper  board  with  meat  three  or  four  times  a  week. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  can  work  his  way  through  college, 
furnishing  his  own  food,  buying  vegetables  and  fish  at 
very  low  cost.  Many  of  the  boys  bring  their  bread  from 
home.  It  is  made  of  ground  corn  or  millet  and  baked  in 
cakes  an  inch  thick.  These  cakes  are  toasted  until  they 
are  as  hard  as  stone,  in  which  shape  they  will  go  through 
the  term.  Before  going  to  a  meal  the  students  dip  their 
bread  in  buckets  of  water  set  out  for  the  purpose,  and 
when  it  is  soft  carry  it  with  them  to  the  table. 

The  Asyut  institution  has  its  graduates  in  all  the  gov- 
ernment departments  of  Egypt.  They  are  among  the 
leading  merchants  of  the  country,  and  every  town  has 
numbers  of  them.  Many  of  them  are  Copts  and  not  a 
few  are  Mohammedans.  I  am  told  that  there  are  more 
than  fifteen  thousand  boys  now  being  educated  in  the 
United  Presbyterian  schools  and  colleges. 

Shortly  before  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  was  ousted  by  the 
Young  Turk  party  and  carried  to  his  prison  in  Saloniki, 
he  referred  bitterly  to  the  work  that  Robert  College  had 
done  in  unsettling  his  empire.  Said  he:  "That  institution 
has  cost  me  Bulgaria,  and  it  is  like  to  lose  me  my  throne." 

253 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

He  was  right.  Robert  College  was  founded  in  Con- 
stantinople in  1863  by  a  New  York  merchant  named 
Robert,  who  gave  a  large  part  of  his  fortune  to  this 
institution.  He  was  aided  by  the  Reverend  Cyrus  Hamlin, 
D.D.,  who  was,  I  think,  the  real  organizer.  Since  then 
its  graduates  have  formed  the  leaven  for  new  ideas 
throughout  the  Near  East.  Some  of  its  graduates  or- 
ganized the  colleges  and  schools  in  Bulgaria.  Others 
have  been  teaching  in  schools  throughout  the  Turkish 
Empire;  many  have  acted  as  officers  of  the  Government, 
and  some  of  the  best  leaders  of  Turkey  to-day  got  their 
education  at  Robert  College. 

Robert  College  has  now  five  hundred  or  six  hundred 
students,  including  Mohammedans,  Jews,  Armenians, 
and  Russians,  as  well  as  representatives  of  the  other  na- 
tions about.  The  teaching  is  non-sectarian,  although  all 
are  required  to  attend  daily  prayers  and  go  to  services  on 
Sunday.  The  college  has  won  the  approval  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, but  the  oificials  want  it  incorporated  as  a 
Turkish  institution  so  it  will  be  subject  to  their  laws. 
To  this  the  Americans  naturally  object.  They  say  that 
they  are  organized  under  the  laws  of  New  York  and  they 
expect  to  stand  by  all  the  rights  which  they  now  enjoy 
as  an  American  corporation  under  the  protection  of  the 
United  States  Government. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Americans  are  sensible  in 
preferring  the  protection  of  Uncle  Sam  to  that  of  the 
Sultan.  Conditions  are  bound  to  be  unsettled  in  this 
part  of  the  world  for  years  to  come.  There  will  be  revo- 
lutions and  counter-revolutions  before  the  Turks  come 
down  to  a  solid,  substantial,  modern  government.  There 
is  always  the  fear  that  the  college  will  be  put  under  a 

254 


AMERICAN  LEAVEN  IN  THE  NEAR  EAST 

strict  censorship,  as  used  to  be  the  case.  As  it  is  now, 
the  students  can  read  what  books  they  like,  and  there  is 
Httle  trouble  as  to  the  newspapers.  They  can  go  where 
they  please  without  passports,  and  the  present  govern- 
ment seems  to  be  doing  all  it  can  to  promote  education. 

Under  the  regime  of  Abdul  Hamid  it  was  far  diflFerent. 
In  his  time  every  newspaper  was  carefully  looked  over  by 
Turkish  officials,  and  all  sentences  or  words  objectionable 
to  the  Government  were  cut  out.  This  was  true  of 
papers  coming  in  through  the  mail  as  well  as  of  the 
native  publications.  Here  in  Beirut  a  Sunday  weekly  is 
published  devoted  largely  to  the  life  and  sayings  of  our 
Saviour.  The  censors  objected  to  it,  saying:  "The  paper 
is  a  dangerous  one,  for  in  it  they  kill  a  King  of  the  Jews 
every  week.  This  might  suggest  the  assassination  of 
the  Sultan,  and  we  cannot  permit  it." 

Dr.  Bliss,  the  president  of  the  American  University  of 
Beirut,  once  imported  an  old  copy  of  Shakespeare.  It 
was  kept  at  the  customs  house,  the  censor  objecting  to  its 
importation.  Said  the  latter :  "Shakespeare  is  not  a  good 
book  for  the  Turks.  It  has  in  it  the  story  of  a  man  named 
Macbeth  who  killed  a  king.  It  would  be  a  bad  example  for 
our  people."  Dr.  Bliss  succeeded  in  getting  his  Shake- 
speare through  by  saying  he  had  another  copy  of  the  same 
book,  which,  as  it  was  already  in  the  country,  could  not 
be  taken  out,  and  he  would  be  glad  to  trade  this  for 
the  new  copy.  The  censor  consented,  accepted  the 
Shakespeare  which  cost  a  dollar,  and  admitted  the  fme 
old  edition  instead. 

At  another  time  some  New  Testaments  sent  to  Con- 
stantinople were  held  back  by  one  of  the  censors  because 
of  the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Galatians.     Galata  is  one 

255 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

of  the  divisions  of  Constantinople,  and  the  censor  asked: 
"Who  is  this  man  Paul,  and  why  is  he  writing  to  our 
people  in  Galata?"  He  was  with  difficulty  persuaded 
that  St.  Paul  was  dead  and  that  his  letter  was  not  part 
of  a  plot.  There  is  a  story  that  a  textbook  on  chemistry 
was  kept  out  because  a  censor  objected  to  the  term  H2O, 
saying  that  it  seemed  to  mean  that  Hamid  1 1  (the  Sultan, 
Abdul  Hamid)  amounted  to  nothing. 

In  addition  to  Robert  College  and  the  institution  at 
Asyut  there  is  one  here  at  Beirut  which  is  quite  as  im- 
portant as  either  of  the  others.  I  refer  to  the  American 
University  of  Beirut,  founded  by  Americans  in  1863, 
which  has  become  the  Harvard  and  Yale  of  the  Near 
East.  It  has  had  thousands  of  graduates,  and  its  doctors 
and  lawyers  stand  at  the  heads  of  their  professions  in 
Egypt,  Syria,  Turkey,  Persia,  and  India.  It  has  more 
than  nine  hundred  students,  all  Orientals,  representing 
every  part  of  the  Levant. 

This  institution  was  founded  by  Presbyterians,  but 
the  instruction  is  non-sectarian.  The  faculty  has  about 
one  hundred  and  twenty  professors,  most  of  them 
Americans,  and  it  is  a  thoroughly  up-to-date  university. 
It  has  a  medical  department  which,  with  its  hospitals, 
treats  thousands  of  patients  a  year.  It  has  physical, 
chemical,  and  other  laboratories,  a  large  library,  and 
ethnological  and  industrial  museums  devoted  to  exhibits 
from  Syria  and  Turkey. 

During  my  stay  here  I  have  visited  the  college.  It 
is  beautifully  located,  the  buildings  being  situated  on 
the  bluffs  south  of  Beirut  and  running  from  them  down 
to  the  sea.  Standing  upon  the  campus,  which  contains 
about  fifty  acres,  one  faces  the  glorious  Mediterranean, 

256 


Armenian  children  begin  to  make  themselves  useful  at  an  early  age. 
Centuries  of  hardships  under  anti-Christian  rulers  have  made  these 
people  resourceful  and  self-reliant.  They  are  the  shrewdest  traders  of 
the  East 


■^' 


-^ 


'  ■*. 


.^J 


■^-^^ 


^. 


->  ^ 


■^^' 


.1* 


<^^^ 


*^- 


'■'H 


American  relief  in  the  Near  East  takes  the  practical  form  of  getting 
the  people  back  to  the  land,  much  of  which  has  been  devastated  b\-  one 
war  after  another 


AMERICAN  LEAVEN   IN  THE  NEAR  EAST 

while  at  his  back  are  the  snow-capped  mountains  of 
Lebanon  with  the  rich  vegetation  climbing  their  slopes. 
The  institution  has  a  gymnasium,  tennis  courts,  and  good 
athletic  grounds.  Its  students  play  football,  baseball, 
and  cricket.  They  are  full  of  college  spirit  and  have  their 
college  papers,  their  college  songs,  and  their  college  yell. 

The  boys  have  silver  cups  and  other  trophies  which 
are  contended  for  by  the  various  athletic  teams,  and  these 
Persians,  Greeks,  Syrians,  Arabs,  Egyptians,  Armenians, 
and  Turks  are  being  welded  into  one  brotherhood  by 
the  hard  knocks  of  football  and  the  track. 

The  Beirut  University  is  an  American  college  and  a 
Christian  college  as  well,  but  it  does  not  attempt  to  prose- 
lytize, and  the  Moslem  can  come  to  it  without  changing 
his  religion.  It  insists  only  that  everyone  who  goes 
through  its  courses  shall  attend  chapel  and  the  Bible 
classes,  which  study  the  Bible  as  one  of  the  great  influ- 
ences in  the  work  of  the  world.  Once  the  Moslem 
students  struck  against  these  regulations.  They  refused 
to  go  to  chapel  and  took  an  oath  not  to  attend  the  Bible 
classes.  The  strike  created  a  sensation,  and  for  a  time 
it  seemed  as  though  it  might  do  serious  damage.  The 
faculty,  however,  headed  by  the  president,  Dr.  Howard 
S.  Bliss,  stood  firm,  saying  that  the  school  was  a  Christian 
college.  They  demanded  that  all  students  attend  the 
religious  services,  and  the  result  was  that  most  of  the 
strikers  came  in,  and  the  college  has  gone  along  on  its 
original  lines. 

In  talking  about  this  to  the  Mohammedan  students 
Dr.   Bliss  said: 

"Our  college  was  established  to  give  the  Mohammedan 
world  the  best  the  Christian  world  has.     Our  aim  is  to 

257 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

make  of  you  broad-minded,  intelligent  men  whether  you 
continue  to  be  Moslems  or  become  Christians.  We  be- 
lieve that  the  best  thing  we  have  is  our  religion,  so  we 
are  bound  to  let  you  know  what  it  is.  Whether  you 
accept  it  or  not  rests  with  yourselves.  If,  upon  inves- 
tigation, you  still  think  the  Moslem  religion  the  best, 
we  believe  that  the  knowledge  you  have  of  our  religion 
will  make  you  better  and  broader  Moslems.  Religion 
is  for  man,  not  man  for  religion,  and  we  want  you  to 
have  the  training  which  will  make  each  one  of  you  the 
best  man,  whether  he  be  Christian  or  Moslem." 

To-day  the  Mohammedan  students  attending  the 
services  look  upon  them  as  largely  educational,  and  they 
study  the  Bible  as  history  and  literature. 

The  influence  of  colleges  like  this  goes  far  and  wide. 
The  students  come  from  villages  all  over  the  Turkish 
Empire  and  from  those  of  India  and  Persia  as  well.  Going 
home,  each  forms  a  little  hot-bed  for  the  growth  of  inde- 
pendent  thought. 

Civilized  ideas  are  spread  in  other  ways  besides  these. 
One  of  the  great  means  of  such  distribution  is  the  annual 
pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  which  is  attended  by  nearly  half 
a  million  Mohammedans  from  all  parts  of  the  Orient. 
At  that  time  Mecca  becomes  a  great  camp  meeting  or 
bush  meeting,  such  as  we  farmers  have  in  Virginia.  The 
people  come  together  and  gossip.  They  discuss  the  crops 
and  ask  one  another  how  they  are  getting  along.  Hassan 
AH  of  Egypt  says  to  Mohammed  of  Turkey,  "How  is 
business?  Are  you  making  money,  and  how  does  your 
government  treat  you?"  Mohammed  replies  that  the 
Turks  are  taxed  to  death,  but  they  hope  for  much  under 
the  new  Sultan.     Thereupon  Hassan  says  that  the  English 

258 


AMERICAN  LEAVEN   IN  THE  NEAR  EAST 

have  cut  down  the  taxes  in  Egypt  and  that  the  church 
has  plenty  of  money  in  the  treasury.  He  tells  how  he 
has  been  able  to  send  his  boy  to  college,  and  that  he 
hopes  he  will  some  day  be  an  official.  The  Turk,  there- 
upon, longs  for  a  better  government.  At  the  same  time 
the  college  students  tell  what  they  have  learned,  and  as 
a  result  the  twentieth-century  spirit  of  modern  progress 
is  stirring  the  Mohammedan  world. 

In  addition  to  the  collegiate  work  great  advances  in 
the  spread  of  our  civilization  are  being  made  by  the 
Protestant  missions.  There  are  now  thousands  of  native 
Christians  in  Syria  and  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred 
thousand  native  Christians  in  the  empire  of  Turkey. 
The  American  missionaries  alone  have  more  than  one 
hundred  schools,  with  five  or  six  thousand  pupils,  and  the 
English  have  many  more. 

Here  in  Beirut  is  the  largest  and  most  up-to-date  pub- 
lishing house  in  the  Orient.  It  belongs  to  the  American 
mission,  and  annually  turns  out  tens  of  thousands  of 
Bibles,  school  textbooks,  and  other  works  on  religious 
and  scientific  subjects.  Altogether,  it  has  published 
more  than  seven  hundred  different  works  in  Arabic,  and 
it  is  estimated  that  it  has  printed  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  a  billion  pages  of  one  kind  or  other.  It  issues  around 
one  hundred  thousand  volumes  a  year,  containing  alto- 
gether something  like  thirty  million  pages.  Its  Bibles 
published  in  Arabic  are  sold  throughout  the  Mohamme- 
dan world. 

The  medical  missionaries  are  doing  a  great  deal  in  all 
parts  of  the  Orient.  I  have  seen  their  hospitals  every- 
where on  my  trips  around  the  world.  They  are  to  be 
found  in  all  parts  of  India,  far  up  the  Nile  Valley,  and  in 

259 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

the  leading  centres  of  the  Holy  Land.  One  of  the  best 
I  have  visited  is  situated  at  Tiberias,  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee, 
and  headed  by  Dr.  Torrence,  who  has  been  treating  the 
Bedouins  and  others  there  for  the  last  thirty  years.  In 
my  talk  with  him  the  question  of  tuberculosis  came  up, 
and  he  described  the  evils  of  the  great  white  plague  as 
they  are  found  in  his  region  on  the  very  edge  of  the 
desert.  He  says  tuberculosis  is  rife  among  the  Bedouins 
although  they  live  out  of  doors  in  the  purest  air  all  the 
time.  He  thinks  that  the  disease  is  spread  largely  by 
the  cattle.  About  50  per  cent,  of  the  cows  have  tuber- 
culosis, and  the  people  live  chiefly  on  milk. 

Another  doctor  connected  with  the  hospital  tells  me 
that  Syria  had  no  consumption  until  about  twenty-five 
years  ago,  when  the  disease  was  brought  in  from  the 
United  States  by  natives  who  had  emigrated  to  our 
country,  contracted  consumption,  and  brought  it  back 
home.  The  Syrians  had  no  idea  what  it  meant,  and  it 
rapidly  spread.  The  sanitary  conditions  of  this  part  of 
the  world  are  bad,  the  bacteria  breed  rapidly,  and  the 
disease  is  sweeping  the  country. 

And  this  brings  me  to  a  great  work  at  Juneau  within 
a  few  miles  of  Beirut.  This  is  a  tuberculosis  hospital  built 
there  by  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  at  Washington, 
and  in  charge  of  Dr.  Mary  Eddy,  who  has  become  famous 
throughout  the  Near  East  for  her  work  as  a  medical 
missionary.  Miss  Eddy  is  the  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
William  W.  Eddy,  who  came  to  Syria  many  years  ago 
and  remained  here  until  his  death.  Besides  being  a 
woman  of  fme  education  and  great  medical  skill,  she  is 
an  expert  on  all  matters  connected  with  tuberculosis 
and  its  treatment. 

260 


Cradles  in  Armenia  ha\e  no  sides,  a  wide  cloth  band  drawn  tight  keeping 
the  babv  from  falling  out 


American  tlour  sacks  serve  a  double  purpose  among  the  Armenians  and 
Syrians  in  time  of  distress 


Much  of  the  wildcrnt'ss  of  the  Jordan  will  be  reclaimed  b\'  irrigation 
and  forestation  when  the  British-Zionist  project  for  developing  water 
power  along  the  river  is  completed 


AMERICAN  LEAVEN   IN  THE  NEAR  EAST 

She  is  the  only  woman  who  has  ever  been  granted  an 
irade,  or  certificate  of  protection,  from  the  Sultan  author- 
izing her  to  practise  as  a  doctor  everywhere  throughout 
his  dominions  and  directing  that  all  good  Turks  shall 
give  her  assistance  as  she  goes  on  her  way. 

Miss  Eddy  has  been  working  in  Syria  for  years  and  has 
been  fighting  the  spread  of  consumption  as  best  she  could 
without  any  hospital  facilities  for  her  patients.  The 
people  have  come  and  camped  near  her  house  waiting 
treatment,  and  the  tents  of  the  Bedouins  may  be  seen 
dotting  the  plains  near  where  the  hospital  now  is.  Some 
of  the  best  known  men  and  women  of  our  national  cap- 
ital have  been  interested  in  the  building  of  this  hospital 
and  the  support  of  its  work. 


261 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

AT   THE    SHRINE   OF    DIANA    OF   THE    EPHESIANS 

THIS  morning  we  shall  walk  through  the  remains 
of  the  famed  city  of  the  Ephesians.  We  shall 
wander  over  the  site  of  the  great  Temple  of  Diana, 
tramp  the  ground  where  St.  John  was  living  when 
he  wrote  his  gospel,  and  stand  in  the  marble  market- 
place where  St.  Paul  preached.  There  is  a  tradition  that 
the  mother  of  our  Lord  was  buried  here,  and  that  here 
lies  also  the  dust  of  St.  Timothy. 

The  Ephesus  of  the  past  has  been  brought  to  the  light 
of  the  present  by  the  excavations  of  the  Austrians.  I 
have  told  you  something  of  their  work  in  the  Holy  Land, 
and  especially  on  the  site  of  old  Jericho.  They  have  also 
dug  up  the  ruins  of  other  cities  in  Asia,  and  here  at 
Ephesus  have  uncovered  what  remains  of  the  Temple 
of  Diana  and  found  a  theatre  which  had  seats  for  thirty 
thousand  persons.  They  have  excavated  the  marble  docks 
which  led  up  to  the  city,  and  have  done  much  to  show 
us  what  this  great  commercial  centre  of  two  thousand 
years  ago  must  have  been  in  the  height  of  its  glory. 

But  first  let  me  tell  you  something  of  the  Ephesus  of 
the  days  of  St.  Paul.  It  lay  here  on  the  coast  of  Asia 
Minor,  just  opposite  Greece,  in  what  was  almost  the 
centre  of  the  then  known  world.  It  was  the  chief  Roman 
city  of  Asia.  It  had  a  population  of  a  million  or  more 
and  was  famous  for  its  learning,  art,  and  beautiful  build- 

262 


THE  SHRINE  OF  DIANA  OF  THE  EPHESIANS 

ings.  It  was  far  more  magnificent  than  Smyrna,  which 
was  founded  before  it,  and  in  which  it  is  said  the  poet 
Homer  was  born. 

Ephesus  dated  back  to  a  thousand  years  before  Christ. 
Some  say  it  was  founded  by  the  Amazons,  but  we  know 
that  it  was  largely  built  up  by  Greeks  from  the  Ionian 
Islands  over  the  way.  It  was  a  great  city  in  the  days  of 
Croesus,  who  besieged  the  town  in  the  year  510,  b.  c; 
and  later  it  grew  so  famous  that  Alexander  the  Great 
wanted  to  change  its  name  for  his  own. 

Among  the  wonders  of  Ephesus  was  its  temple  to  Diana, 
the  favourite  goddess  of  the  city.  People  from  the  cor- 
ners of  the  earth  came  to  worship  her.  Her  temple  was 
considered  one  of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world.  It 
covered  more  than  two  acres,  and  its  mighty  roof  was 
upheld  by  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  marble  columns 
each  as  high  as  a  six-story  building.  The  worship  of  the 
goddess  was  so  famous  that  there  grew  up  a  business  in 
making  statues  of  her  and  manufacturing  portable 
shrines  which  could  be  carried  away  by  pilgrims.  Ath- 
letic games  were  connected  with  the  worship,  and  the 
month  of  May  was  sacred  to  her.  The  temple  itself  is 
referred  to  in  the  Scriptures.  In  the  Acts  we  read  of 
"the  great  goddess  Diana,  whom  all  Asia  and  the  world 
worshipped." 

Now  let  us  have  a  look  at  the  site  of  that  temple  to-day. 
We  have  taken  a  special  car  at  Smyrna  and  have  been 
pulled  by  a  little  French  locomotive  over  the  railroad  to 
the  station  of  Ayasoluk  forty-eight  miles  away  across 
country.  We  have  gone  through  a  land  of  vineyards 
and  olives  where  baggy-trousered  peasants  are  pruning 
the  vines  and  working  the  fields.     They  dig  about  the 

263 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

trees  with  three-tined  hoes  and  till  their  crops  with 
donkeys  and  bullocks.  The  one-handled  ploughs  are 
about  the  same  as  those  used  in  ancient  days.  We  go 
over  the  plains  which  must  have  fed  the  Ephesians, 
wind  our  way  in  and  out  through  the  hills,  and  finally 
come  to  a  little  station  where  we  get  horses  to  carry  us 
out  through  the  valley  to  Ephesus. 

The  site  of  the  temple  lies  in  a  valley.  It  is  not  far 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  which  we  can  see  shining  in 
the  sun  not  more  than  five  miles  away.  History  says  it 
was  swampy  and  that  the  great  structure  was  erected 
upon  piles.  This  statement  is  borne  out  by  the  present 
conditions  of  the  site.  The  excavation  made  in  uncover- 
ing the  ruins  is  now  filled  with  water.  It  is  a  miniature 
lake  filled  with  broken  columns  and  capitals  lying  half 
in  and  half  out  of  the  water.  We  stand  on  the  banks 
beside  fluted  columns  of  snow-white  marble,  and  see 
broken  marble  everywhere  near.  That  man  who  ploughs 
on  the  southern  ridge  of  the  sand  turns  up  marble  bits 
at  every  step  of  his  bullocks,  and  the  girls  behind  him, 
who  are  planting,  uncover  stones  from  the  temple  at 
almost  every  stroke  of  their  hoes. 

As  we  look,  we  see  no  sign  of  the  activity  which  pre- 
vailed here  two  thousand  years  ago.  Birds  fly  across  the 
lake  and  sing  in  the  trees  bending  over  it.  A  stork  sits 
sleepily  on  a  marble  rock  in  its  midst  and  a  frog  croaks 
out  a  welcome.  A  red  cow  is  grazing  there  on  the  edge 
of  the  water,  and  at  my  right  a  hog  is  rooting  in  the 
debris. 

Let  us  get  on  our  horses  and  ride  on  down  the  valley  to 
visit  the  theatre  which  once  held  the  actors  of  the  chief 
playhouse  of  Asia.     Think  of  a  theatre  seating  thirty 

264 


THE  SHRINE  OF  DIANA  OF  THE  EPHESIANS 

thousand.  It  is  only  in  recent  years  that  we  have  built 
in  the  United  States  amphitheatres  large  enough  to  seat 
as  many  people  as  used  to  watch  the  performances  here 
more  than  two  thousand  years  ago.  This  great  open-air 
structure  was  built  largely  of  marble  and  altogether  of 
stone.  The  entrance  to  the  stage  was  through  tunnels, 
and  the  stage  was  upheld  by  marble  columns.  The 
seats,  which  were  made  of  common  stone  covered  with 
marble,  ran  around  the  stage  or  rather  the  pit  in  the 
shape  of  a  half  moon,  rising  high  up  the  hills  at  the  back. 
They  were  in  three  stories  and  contained  sixty-six 
rows. 

I  measured  the  outline  of  the  stage.  It  was  about 
eighteen  feet  wide  and  six  or  seven  feet  high.  There  are 
long  underground  passages  leading  to  it,  and  there  were 
eight  dressing  rooms  on  two  floors  at  the  sides  of  the 
stage.  Walking  through  the  pit,  now  filled  with  broken 
marble  columns  and  blocks  of  marble  beautifully  carved, 
I  climbed  down  now  and  then  and  tried  to  imagine  the 
audience  and  the  acting  going  on  upon  the  marble  stage 
far  below. 

Leaving  the  theatre,  I  strolled  about  through  the  wide 
streets  of  marble,  which  have  been  partially  uncovered, 
and  made  photographs  of  bits  of  the  ruins.  There  is 
enough  of  this  fine  stone  here  to  build  a  structure  equal 
to  our  national  Capitol  at  Washington.  This  is  mixed 
with  mosaic  and  the  broken  statues  of  the  palaces  of  the 
past.  There  are  pieces  of  friezes,  columns,  and  capitals 
lying  out  in  the  open;  there  are  torsos  of  statues  the 
heads  and  feet  of  which  have  been  broken  off  and  carried 
away;  and  also  many  exquisite  carvings  which  would  be 
treasures  to  any  museum.     Here  lies  a  piece  of  marble 

265 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

drapery,  the  remnants  of  the  garment  of  a  goddess; 
there  the  broken-up  limb  of  an  athlete,  and  farther  on  a 
beautiful  bit  from  the  front  of  the  temple. 

Among  the  ruins  are  the  remains  of  stores,  houses, 
and  markets.  I  climbed  over  marble  blocks  along  the 
street  which  led  to  the  ship  canal,  and  stood  among 
broken  columns  in  what  was  once  the  stock  exchange  and 
wool  market.  In  one  place  is  an  artificial  terrace  where 
stood  the  great  gymnasium,  and  in  another  is  a  market- 
place two  hundred  feet  long,  surrounded  by  a  portico, 
back  of  which  were  the  stalls  of  the  marketmen.  In  the 
mosaic  floors  of  these  stalls  thirteen  different  kinds  of 
marbles  were  used,  and  marbles  of  various  colours  were 
employed  throughout  the  structure. 

To-day  the  peasants  are  working  all  over  these  ruins. 
Here  they  are  planting  grain,  and  there,  cleaning  the 
fields,  is  a  gang  of  a  dozen  girls  working  under  a  turbaned 
man  in  baggy  trousers.  Here  women  are  digging;  farther 
on  a  man  drives  a  camel  harnessed  to  a  one-handled  plough. 
The  only  town  near  Ephesus  is  Ayasoluk,  which  has  but 
a  few  hundred  inhabitants.  It  has,  perhaps,  a  dozen 
small  stores,  a  railroad  station,  and  a  hotel.  While  at 
the  station  I  saw  a  white,  fat  lamb  awaiting  shipment. 
It  was  tied  to  the  platform,  and  a  card  fastened  to  one 
horn  bore  the  name  of  the  commission  merchant  in  Smyrna 
to  whom  it  was  consigned. 

Just  opposite  the  hotel  are  seven  tall  columns  which 
once  supported  the  great  aqueduct  which  supplied  Ephe- 
sus with  water.  Each  of  these  has  now  a  stork's  nest 
on  its  top,  and  the  great  birds  may  be  seen  any  day 
standing  there.  I  am  told  that  they  come  here  only  for 
the  winter,  and  that  they  leave  every  spring  for  Holland, 

266 


THE  SHRINE  OF  DIANA  OF  THE  EPHESIANS 

or  perhaps   for  some  other  far-away  part  of  the  world, 
every  one  of  them  carrying  a  baby. 

Before  coming  to  Ephesus  I  spent  a  day  in  Smyrna, 
whither  I  shall  return  to  go  on  to  Constantinople  and 
Greece.  Smyrna  is  the  largest  city  in  Asia  Minor,  and 
has  about  the  same  position  in  the  modern  world  that 
Ephesus  once  had.  The  chief  port  of  this  part  of  the 
Levant,  it  does  a  big  business  in  shipping  wool,  wine, 
grapes,  olives,  and  figs.  It  has  a  foreign  trade  of  about 
fifty  million  dollars  a  year,  and  steamers  from  all  parts 
of  the  Mediterranean  come  to  its  docks. 

The  city  lies  at  one  end  of  the  Gulf  of  Smyrna,  which 
is  thirty-four  miles  long  and  surrounded  by  lofty  silver- 
gray  mountains  some  of  them  a  mile  high.  Its  harbour 
is  excellent,  and  the  town  has  many  modern  buildings. 
Because  of  its  importance  in  the  trade  of  Asia  Minor, 
Smyrna  is  a  centre  of  political  and  commercial  interests  and 
the  scene  of  fierce  competition  among  the  various  nationali- 
ties.    Among  its  people  there  are  more  Greeks  than  Turks. 

While  travelling  in  Syria  I  saw  many  openings  for 
American  goods.  The  farming  there  is  after  the  methods 
of  centuries  ago,  and  our  ploughs,  reapers,  and  other  agri- 
cultural machines  might  be  sold.  I  understand  that  the 
more  progressive  of  the  native  landlords  are  ready  to 
buy.  One  man,  who  owns  more  than  a  thousand  acres 
of  rich  grainland  on  the  high  plateau  between  the  two 
ranges  of  the  Lebanon  Mountains,  has  offered  75  per  cent. 
of  the  profits  to  any  American  company  that  will  culti- 
vate it  for  two  or  three  years,  and  will  bring  in  American 
machinery.  The  landlord  also  agrees,  upon  the  ter- 
mination of  the  lease,  to  pay  for  the  machinery  at  the 
regular  price. 

267 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

Some  of  the  Syrian  farmers  are  now  using  American 
threshers  and  reapers,  and  some  are  bringing  in  American 
ploughs.  The  first  thresher  imported  was  upon  the  advice 
of  our  consul  general  at  Beirut.  He  is  a  Dakota  man, 
who  understands  the  farming  conditions  in  the  North- 
west. He  tells  me  that  the  possibilities  of  raising  grain 
in  this  part  of  the  world  are  remarkable,  and  that  dry 
farming  might  be  practised  in  many  localities  which  now 
go  to  waste.  He  thinks  that  old  Mesopotamia  can  be 
reclaimed  by  irrigation  and  a  new  Egypt  created  there. 
He  says  that  as  political  conditions  improve  there  will 
be  many  opportunities  for  commerce  and  industry,  and 
that  American  capital  should  take  advantage  of  the 
situation. 

Syria  and  Asia  Minor  are  now  raising  a  great  deal  of 
silk,  which  is  sent  to  France  and  shipped  from  there  to 
the  United  States.  The  American  residents  tell  me  that 
there  is  no  reason  why  we  should  not  buy  this  raw  silk 
direct,  thus  saving  the  Frenchman's  profits  and  the  double 
transportation  charges.  I  saw  mulberry  orchards  every- 
where during  my  travels  in  Syria.  The  plains  about 
Beirut  are  covered  with  them,  and  they  are  to  be  found 
on  both  sides  of  the  Lebanon  Mountains.  When  the  trees 
have  grown  to  the  height  of  a  man's  head,  they  are  cut 
back.  Green  leaves  from  the  new  sprouts  furnish  food 
for  millions  of  silkworms.  In  coming  from  Damascus 
I  saw  women  and  children  picking  the  leaves  to  feed  to 
the  worms,  carrying  them  to  sheds  erected  for  the  pur- 
pose. Raising  the  silkworms  is  largely  in  the  hands  of 
the  women,  who  take  care  of  the  trees  and  sell  the  cocoons. 
From  the  Lebanon  mountain  regions  every  year  men,  spe- 
cially appointed,  go  to  France  to  get  the  silkworm  eggs. 

268 


The  first  steel  bridge  across  the  River  Jordan  was  named  in  honour  of 
General  Allenb\-.  Under  the  British  regime  motor  launches  pi)'  along  this 
most  sacred  stream  in  the  world 


.L'-"-'tf^'«''  :'U>L'?i."rrrr- 
;  anrrno  n""  »r"g"=?°---— .- 


^- 


!,.-» 


Jerusalem  now  has  a  speed  law,  and  its  road  signs  are  printed  in 
the  three  official  languages — English,  Hebrew,  and  Arabic — and  French 
besides 


THE  SHRINE  OF  DIANA  OF  THE  EPHESIANS 

For  some  reason  those  laid  in  the  Syrian  mountains  do 
not  produce  well. 

"He  who  plants  an  olive  tree  lays  up  riches  for  his 
children's  children."  This  saying  expresses  a  current 
belief  throughout  the  Levant.  Olives  are  the  money 
crop  of  a  great  part  of  Palestine,  Syria,  and  Asia  Minor. 
Many  of  the  trees  are  hundreds  of  years  old,  and  some 
of  them  were  planted  before  Columbus  discovered  Amer- 
ica. I  am  told  of  an  orchard  near  Tripoli,  in  Syria,  which 
the  deeds  show  was  established  about  five  hundred  years 
ago,  and  the  trees  of  which  are  still  bearing.  All  the  way 
from  Jerusalem  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee  I  saw  olive  trees 
that  looked  old  enough  to  have  been  planted  by  Jacob. 
Some  of  gigantic  size  were  hollow  and  had  been  filled 
with  stones  to  aid  in  their  support. 

Many  of  the  colonists  of  the  Holy  Land  have  set  out 
new  orchards,  and  the  Americans  who  live  at  Haifa  have 
trees  bearing  fruit  every  year.  I  am  told  that  the  crop 
is  very  profitable,  and  that  under  reduced  taxation  many 
more  trees  will  be  planted.  The  fruit  is  raised  for  the 
oil.  A  ton  of  olives  yields  about  seventy  gallons  of  oil. 
Asia  Minor  already  leads  the  world  in  its  production 
of  olive  oil,  producing  about  two  or  three  hundred 
thousand  more  barrels  per  annum  than  either  Spain 
or  Italy. 

Another  important  crop  of  the  region  about  Smyrna  is 
the  fig,  which  grows  better  here  than  in  almost  any  other 
part  of  the  globe.  More  than  three  hundred  thousand 
camel-loads  are  raised  in  some  years,  and  they  are 
shipped  all  over  the  world.  The  trees  begin  to  bear  in 
their  sixth  year,  and  are  at  their  best  ten  years  after 
planting.     The  figs  ripen  about  the  first  of  August,  and 

269 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

when  fully  matured  fall  to  the  ground.  They  are  dried 
in  the  sun,  then  packed  in  bags  for  the  market. 

A  great  many  of  these  figs  go  to  America,  where  you 
will  find  them  in  all  the  fruit  and  grocery  stores.  Our 
part  of  the  crop  is  carefully  packed,  there  being  several 
American  firms  here  which  do  nothing  else.  The  figs 
are  first  sorted  according  to  the  thickness  of  the  skin  and 
size  of  the  fruit.  The  poorest  are  thrown  away  or  used 
for  distilling  purposes,  and  the  best  are  put  up  for  ex- 
port in  boxes  and  jars.  The  price  here  varies  from  two 
to  eight  cents  a  pound,  the  very  finest  of  the  figs  bringing 
the  latter  figure. 

A  great  deal  of  the  packing  is  done  in  the  city  of 
Smyrna  to  which  the  fruit  is  brought  in  from  all  parts 
of  the  country.  Some  of  it  comes  on  the  railways,  on 
cars  especially  built  for  the  traffic,  and  some  is  carried 
on  camels.  As  it  is  important  that  the  fruit  be  not 
bruised,  that  carried  in  the  cars  is  laid  upon  shelves 
built  one  above  the  other,  so  that  there  is  no  danger  of 
the  figs  being  crushed  or  bruised. 


270 


CHAPTER   XXXII 

ARMENIA,    THE    SUFFERING 

/RMENIA  is  the  Job  among  peoples.  Her  frightful 
i  sufferings  seem  to  have  no  end.  A  little  Chris- 
%  tian  island  in  a  vast  sea  of  Mohammedanism, 
^  she  has  been  swept  by  one  great  tidal  wave  of 
persecution  after  another.  Before  the  eyes  of  the  modern 
world,  in  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  centuries,  even, 
a  whole  people  has  been  robbed,  exiled,  and  murdered, 
while  the  great  nations  have  looked  on  apparently  help- 
less to  bring  to  a  permanent  end  the  horrible  atrocities 
committed  by  the  "unspeakable  Turk." 

Millions  of  dollars  have  been  spent  in  the  past  for  the 
aid  of  Armenia,  millions  more  will  be  required  before  she 
is  freed  from  famine  and  persecution.  Vast  sums  have 
been  donated  by  Americans  through  their  churches  and 
missionary  societies,  the  Red  Cross,  and  other  national 
and  international  organizations  to  help  these  people  in 
their  misery.  But  lasting  relief  cannot  come  until  Ar- 
menia is  enabled  to  set  up  a  nation  of  her  own  once  more, 
or  is  brought  under  the  protection  of  a  strong  Christian 
power. 

What  the  Armenians  have  done  under  oppression  shows 
that  they  have  great  possibilities  as  a  race.  They  are 
sometimes  called  the  Yankees  of  the  Orient.  They  are 
the  brightest,  brainiest,  and  shrewdest  of  all  the  people 
of  Asia  Minor.     In  business  they  are  sharper  than  the 

271 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

Jews  or  even  the  Greeks.  The  Turks  say,  "Twist  a 
Yankee  and  you  make  a  Jew,  twist  a  Jew  and  you  make 
an  Armenian."  The  Greeks  say  that  "one  Greek  is 
equal  to  two  Jews,  but  one  Armenian  is  equal  to  two 
Greeks."  Another  current  Turkish  proverb  is,  "  From 
the  Greeks  of  Athens,  from  the  Jews  of  Saloniki,  and 
from  the  Armenians  everywhere,  good  Lord  deliver 
us!" 

The  Armenians  are  by  no  means  confined  to  one  part 
of  the  Orient.  I  have  met  them  everywhere  in  the  East 
and  I  have  found  them  acting  as  heads  of  all  kinds  of 
businesses.  There  are  many  rich  Armenians  in  India. 
Coming  from  Singapore  to  Calcutta  I  travelled  with  a 
wealthy  Armenian  jeweller  who  told  me  he  was  on  his 
way  back  from  Hong  Kong  where  he  had  gone  to  sell 
pearls  to  the  Chinese.  I  found  Armenian  conductors 
on  the  Egyptian  railways,  and  when  I  went  over  the 
transcontinental  railroad  to  Paris  the  guards  on  the 
train  and  the  men  who  took  up  my  tickets  were  Armen- 
ians who  spoke  English  and  French.  There  are  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  Armenians  in  Europe.  There  are 
a  large  number  in  Persia,  and  in  different  parts  of  Turkey 
there  are  said  to  be  about  one  million.  There  are  a  great 
many  in  Constantinople  where  they  manage  most  of  the 
banking  business  and  own  large  mercantile  establishments. 
When  1  got  money  on  my  letter  of  credit  in  Constanti- 
nople it  was  an  Armenian  clerk  who  figured  up  the 
exchange  and  an  Armenian  cashier  who  handed  out  the 
money.  Whenever  there  are  riots  in  that  city  nearly  all 
the  stores  are  closed  because  their  Armenian  owners  fear 
they  may  be  looted  by  the  mob.  When  1  visited  the 
Turkish  government  departments  1  found  that,    though 

272 


ARMENIA,  THE  SUFFERING 

the  chief  officers  were  Turks,  the  clerks  were  in  most 
cases  Armenians,  and  the  cleverest  man  I  met  in  Turkey 
was  one  of  the  Sultan's  secretaries,  a  man  of  Armenian 
birth.  There  are  also  Armenian  engineers,  architects, 
and  doctors  in  Constantinople.  The  Armenians  of  Ar- 
menia proper,  however,  are  almost  all  farmers,  most  of 
whom  have  become  poverty-stricken  through  the  ex- 
horbitant  taxes  of  the  Sultan. 

At  Jerusalem  I  saw  a  large  number  of  Armenian  pil- 
grims who  had  come  from  all  parts  of  Asia  Minor  to 
pray  at  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  They  have 
a  Patriarch  at  Jerusalem  who  leads  them  in  these  cele- 
brations. He  is  a  tall,  thin  man  with  a  long  gray  beard 
and  a  face  not  unlike  that  of  the  typical  Georgia  cracker. 
He  usually  wears  a  long  gown  and  has  a  little  skull  cap 
on  the  crown  of  his  head.  During  the  Easter  celebration 
he  wears  a  tiara  blazing  with  diamonds  and  his  gown  is 
a  gorgeous  silk  robe  decorated  with  diamonds.  The  Ar- 
menian Christians  have  doctrines  much  like  those  of  the 
Greek  Church.  They  have  monasteries  and  churches 
scattered  throughout  Asia  Minor. 

Armenia  was  the  first  country  in  the  world  to  adopt 
Christianity  as  a  state  religion.  This  she  did  at  the 
beginning  of  the  fourth  century  and  twelve  years  before 
the  conversion  of  the  Roman  emperor,  Constantine. 
Ever  since  she  has  been  persecuted  by  a  succession  of 
enemies  and  conquerors  of  other  faiths.  Almost  as  soon 
as  Christianity  had  been  adopted,  the  Armenians  were 
commanded  by  the  Persians,  their  overlords  at  that  time, 
to  give  up  their  faith  and  adopt  the  Persian  religion  of 
fire-worship.  They  replied:  "No  one  can  move  us  from 
our  belief,  neither  angels  nor  men,  fire  nor  sword.     Here 

273 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

below  we  will  choose  no  other  God,  and  in  heaven  no 
other  Lord  but  Jesus  Christ."  And  they  have  stuck  to 
their  declaration  through  all  the  horrors  and  persecutions 
brought  upon  them  by  Persians,  Saracens,  Tartars, 
Mamelukes,  and  Turks. 

At  her  height  Armenia  was  a  flourishing  country  with 
a  population  of  some  thirty  millions.  But  from  the  time 
of  the  great  dispersal  that  resulted  from  the  invasion  of 
the  Moslem  hordes  in  the  seventh  century,  the  Armenians, 
like  the  Jews,  have  been  decimated,  their  country  has 
been  ravaged,  and  the  people  have  been  scattered  all 
over  Europe  and  Asia. 

The  Armenians  assert  that  their  country  is  the  holiest 
land  upon  earth.  It  lies  in  Asia  Minor,  southeast  of  the 
Black  Sea  and  between  it  and  Persia.  Mount  Ararat  is 
situated  in  Armenia,  and  some  of  the  monasteries  claim 
to  have  pieces  of  the  identical  ark  in  which  Noah  landed 
upon  this  mountain.  A  ravine  near  by  is  pointed  out  as 
the  site  of  Noah's  vineyard.  The  vineyard  has  a  mon- 
astery connected  with  it,  and  the  monks  show  a  withered 
old  vine  which  they  assert  is  the  very  one  from  which 
Noah  brewed  the  wine  that  made  him  drunk.  He  cursed 
it  so  effectually  after  he  got  over  his  spree  that  it  has 
borne  no  grapes  unto  this  day.  Noah's  wife  is  said  to 
be  buried  on  Mount  Ararat.  The  Armenians  trace  their 
ancestry  back  to  Japheth  in  one  great  genealogical  tree. 
They  also  have  a  tradition  that  the  Garden  of  Eden  was 
located  in  Armenia,  almost  in  the  centre  of  the  region 
where  the  worst  massacres  have  occurred,  but  it  is  now 
one  of  the  barren  parts  of  the  country.  The  Armenians 
believe  that  the  Wise  Men  of  the  East,  who  followed  the 
Star  of  Bethlehem  to  find  the  young  Christ,  came  from 

274 


ARMENIA,  THE  SUFFERING 

their  country  and  that  the  Star  first  appeared  in  the  heav- 
ens not  far  from  Mount  Ararat. 

According  to  another  curious  Armenian  tradition,  when 
Adam  was  in  the  Garden  of  Eden  his  body  was  covered 
with  nails,  like  those  we  have  on  our  fingers  and  toes. 
These  nails  overlapped  each  other  like  the  scales  of  a 
fish,  thus  giving  him  an  invulnerable  armour.  After  the 
fall  they  all  dropped  olf  except  those  from  the  ends  of 
his  fingers  and  toes.  They  remain  to  this  day  to  remind 
man  of  his  lost  immortality.  The  Armenians  say  that 
when  God  made  Adam  of  clay,  he  had  a  little  piece  left 
over.  He  threw  this  upon  the  ground,  and  as  it  fell  it 
became  gold  and  formed  all  the  gold  of  the  world.  These 
people  are  devoted  to  the  Bible,  and  take  their  religion 
very  seriously.  They  could  have  made  their  peace  with 
the  Turks  long,  long  ago  if  they  had  been  willing  to 
accept  Mohammedanism. 

The  condition  of  the  women  of  Armenia  is  said  to  be 
terrible.  They  have  no  refuge  from  the  Turks,  who 
perpetrate  all  sorts  of  outrages  upon  them.  In  some  of 
the  Armenian  cities  during  one  of  the  massacres  the  girls 
were  collected  into  the  churches  and  kept  there  for  days 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  soldiers  before  they  were  murdered. 
One  statement  described  how  sixty  young  brides  were 
so  treated  and  how  the  blood  ran  out  under  the  church 
doors  at  the  time  of  their  massacre. 

These  Armenian  women  are  among  the  most  attractive 
of  the  Near  East.  I  have  seen  a  number  of  them  during 
my  trip  through  Asia  Minor.  They  have  large,  dark, 
luminous  eyes  with  long  eyelashes,  and  rich,  creamy 
complexions.  Many  of  them  have  rosy  cheeks  and  lus- 
cious red  lips.     They  are  tall  and  straight,  but  become 

275 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

fat  soon  after  marriage.  Not  a  few  of  them  are  married 
to  Turks.  These  women  have  a  dress  of  their  own. 
They  wear  red  fez  caps  with  long  tassels  much  like  some 
of  the  country  girls  of  Greece.  The  richer  ladies  wear 
loose  jackets  lined  with  fur,  and  long  plain  skirts  of  silk 
or  fine  wool.  In  the  province  of  Van,  where  many  atroc- 
ities have  been  committed,  the  girls  wear  under  their 
skirts  trousers  which  are  tied  at  the  ankles.  Some  have 
long,  sleeveless  jackets,  or  cloaks,  reaching  almost  to  the 
feet  and  open  at  the  sides  up  to  the  waists,  and  others 
wear  gorgeous  headdresses,  covering  the  front  of  their 
caps  with  gold  coins,  which  hang  down  over  their  fore- 
heads. Like  the  Jewesses,  these  girls  often  wear  their 
whole  dowries  on  their  persons,  and  in  massacres  like 
those  which  have  so  often  occurred  rings  are  torn  from 
the  ears,  arms  are  cut  off  for  bracelets,  and  many  a  woman 
is  killed  for  her  jewellery.  The  poorer  women  are  hard 
workers.  Nearly  every  household  has  some  kind  of  home 
industry  whereby  it  adds  to  its  income.  Some  of  the 
finest  embroideries  we  get  from  Turkey  are  made  by  these 
clever  Armenian  women,  the  best  of  the  work  being  done 
by  hand  in  hovels. 

The  houses  in  which  the  Armenians  live  are  diff"erent 
in  difi'erent  countries.  In  many  of  the  cities  of  Turkey 
there  is  an  Armenian  quarter,  and  the  older  Armenian 
houses  of  Smyrna  are  built  like  forts.  They  have  no 
windows  facing  the  street,  and  only  of  late  years,  when 
the  people  have  considered  themselves  safe  from  religious 
riots,  have  they  built  houses  more  like  the  Turks.  In 
Armenia  itself  the  poorer  classes  have  homes  which 
would  be  considered  hardly  fit  for  cows  in  America. 
The  cow,  in  fact,   lives  with  the  family.     The  houses 

276 


ARMENIA,  THE  SUFFERING 

are  all  of  one  story,  and  it  is  not  uncommon  to 
build  a  house  against  the  side  of  a  hill  in  order  to  save 
the  making  of  a  back  wall.  The  roofs  are  flat,  and  are 
often  covered  with  earth  upon  which  grass  and  flowers 
grow,  and  upon  which  the  sheep  are  sometimes  pastured. 
The  floors  are  usually  sunken  below  the  level  of  the  road- 
way, and  the  ordinary  window  is  about  the  size  of  a  port- 
hole. You  go  down  steps  to  enter  the  house,  where  you 
find  a  cow  stable  on  one  side  and  the  kitchen  and  living 
quarters  of  the  family  on  the  other. 

All  the  living  arrangements  are  of  the  simplest  and 
cheapest  description.  Each  room  has  a  stone  fireplace 
where  the  cooking  is  done  with  cow  dung  mixed  with 
straw.  There  are  no  tables  and  very  few  chairs.  The 
animal  heat  of  the  cattle  aids  the  fire  in  keeping  the  fam- 
ily warm.  The  houses  of  the  better  class  are  more  com- 
fortable, and  in  the  big  Turkish  cities  some  of  the  rich 
Armenians  have  beautiful  homes.  The  Armenian  women 
are  good  housekeepers  and  much  more  cleanly  than  the 
Turks.     Even  their  hovels  are  kept  clean. 

They  have  a  better  home  life  than  the  Turks.  A  man 
can  have  but  one  wife,  but  the  families  of  several  gene- 
rations often  live  in  one  house.  If  the  daughter-in-law 
lives  with  them,  she  is,  to  a  large  extent,  the  servant  of 
her  husband's  family.  She  has  to  obey  her  father-in- 
law,  and  during  the  first  days  of  her  married  life  is  not 
allowed  to  speak  to  her  husband's  parents  or  any  of  the 
family  who  are  older  than  herself  until  her  father-in-law 
gives  her  permission.  Up  to  this  time  she  wears  a  red 
veil,  as  a  badge  of  her  subjection,  which  is  often  kept  on 
until  her  first  baby  is  born. 

Armenian  girls  are  married  very  young.     Eleven  or 

277 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

twelve  is  considered  quite  old  enough,  and  women  still 
young  often  have  sons  twenty  years  old.  Marriages  are 
arranged  by  parents  or  by  go-betweens.  The  usual  wed- 
ding day  is  Monday,  and  on  the  Friday  before  the  mar- 
riage the  bride  is  taken  to  the  bath  with  great  ceremony. 
On  Saturday  she  gives  a  big  feast  to  her  girl  friends.  On 
Sunday  there  is  a  feast  for  the  boys,  and  on  Monday  the 
wedding  takes  place.  It  usually  occurs  at  the  church, 
where  the  priest  blesses  the  ring  and  makes  prayers  over 
the  wedding  garments.  The  numerous  other  ceremonies 
make  the  wedding  last  from  three  to  eight  days.  Shortly 
after  her  return  from  the  church  the  children  present  rush 
to  pull  oflF  the  bride's  stockings,  in  which  have  been  hidden 
some  coins  for  the  occasion.  Another  curious  custom  is 
to  place  a  baby  boy  on  the  knee  of  the  bride,  as  she  sits 
beside  the  groom  on  a  divan,  with  the  wish  that  she  may 
become  a  happy  mother. 

While  one  reason  for  the  hatred  of  the  Armenians 
is  envy  of  their  shrewdness  and  their  wealth,  the  chief 
cause  of  the  Turkish  outrages  is  religious  fanaticism. 
The  better  classes  of  the  Turks  and  the  more  intelligent 
of  the  Mohammedans  would  probably  stop  them  if  they 
could.  Many  of  the  high  officials  are  afraid  of  the  reli- 
gious zeal  of  the  people.  They  realize  that  if  the  common 
people  get  the  idea  that  they  are  false  to  their  religion, 
they  are  almost  sure  of  assassination.  The  Imams  and 
the  Sheiks,  or,  in  other  words,  the  Moslem  priests,  are,  to 
a  large  extent,  the  rulers  of  Turkey.  They  are  in  most 
cases  ignorant  and  intolerant. 

Among  the  Mohammedan  fanatics  there  are  a  large 
number  known  as  dervishes,  who  roam  about  from  place 
to  place  stirring  up  trouble.     They  are  walking  delegates, 

278 


ARMENIA,  THE  SUFFERING 

as  it  were,  for  the  killing  of  Christians.  They  stimulate 
the  religious  zeal  of  the  people  and  make  violent  speeches 
against  unbelievers.  They  fast  much  and  they  have 
strange  forms  of  worship.  One  class,  known  as  the 
whirling  dervishes,  may  be  seen  in  Constantinople  any 
Friday  going  through  their  devotions.  They  dress  in 
long  white  robes  fastened  at  the  waists  with  black  belts, 
and  wear  high  sugar-loaf  hats.  They  sing  the  Koran  as 
they  whirl  about  in  the  mosques.  As  they  go  on  the  chief 
priest  makes  prayers  and  they  whirl  faster  and  faster, 
until  at  last  their  long  skirts  stand  out  like  those  of  a 
ballet  dancer.  Their  faces  become  crimson,  and  some 
finally  fall  to  the  ground  in  fits. 

Another  class  of  these  fanatics  are  the  howlers,  who 
have  a  great  organization  in  Turkey,  and  have  probably 
been  largely  concerned  in  inciting  feeling  against  the 
Armenians.  I  have  visited  their  mosques,  but  I  despair 
of  adequately  describing  their  religious  gymnastics.  They 
work  themselves  into  a  frenzy,  jumping  and  bending, 
and  gasping  and  howling  out  the  name  of  God.  The 
dervishes  of  the  interior  parts  of  Turkey  often  take 
knives  and  cut  themselves  and  each  other  in  religious 
ecstasy.  They  go  into  fits  and  foam  at  the  mouth,  and 
most  of  them  think  that  the  killing  of  a  Christian  is  a  sure 
passport  to  heaven.  I  would  say,  however,  that  these 
people  are  the  cranks  of  Mohammedanism,  and  that 
they  are  not  a  fair  sample  of  the  Moslem  world.  Never- 
theless, they  have  had  no  small  part  in  bringing  about 
the  miseries  of  Armenia. 


279 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

PALESTINE    AND    SYRIA    UNDER   NEW    RULERS 

SWITCH  on  your  radiophone  and  let  us  listen  to- 
gether this  evening  to  a  talk  from  Jerusalem 
I  where  John  Bull  sits  in  the  seats  of  the  mighty 
and  the  voice  of  the  terrible  Turk  is  no  more 
heard  in  the  land.  The  Holy  City  is  quiet.  The  women 
are  sitting,  as  of  old,  on  the  housetops  under  the  stars, 
while  across  the  valley  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  sparks 
from  the  wireless  tower  flash  out  to  the  corners  of  our 
modern  world. 

If  we  listen  carefully  we  may  hear  the  familiar  chug- 
chug  of  an  American  automobile  whose  driver  to-morrow 
will  take  a  party  of  pilgrims  over  the  road  to  Bethlehem. 
Or  perhaps  he  will  start  on  the  longer  trip  to  the  ruins  of 
old  Jericho  and  the  River  Jordan,  or  even  a  tour  of  all 
the  Holy  Land,  most  of  which  can  now  be  reached  in  a 
motor  car. 

As  we  listen  we  learn  that  the  High  Commissioner, 
who  rules  in  the  name  of  His  Britannic  Majesty,  met 
to-day  with  his  advisory  council,  representing  the  people 
of  Palestine.  From  the  report  of  their  proceedings  we 
learn  what  is  going  on  in  the  reborn  Promised  Land. 
This  council  has  ten  members  appointed  by  the  Com- 
missioner. Four  of  them  are  Moslems,  who  make  up 
four  fifths  of  the  population  of  Palestine,  three  are  Jews, 
identified  with  the  Zionist   movement,   and  three  are 

280 


PALESTINE  AND  SYRIA  UNDER  NEW  RULERS 

Christians.  Just  as  the  membership  of  the  advisory 
council  is  divided  among  the  three  groups  for  whom 
Jerusalem  is  a  holy  place  and  a  religious  centre,  so,  too, 
are  the  positions  in  the  government  to-day  held  by  Chris- 
tians, Jews,  and  Mohammedans.  There  are  three  official 
languages — Arabic,  English,  and  Hebrew. 

The  government,  we  are  told,  is  in  good  condition, 
and  the  country  is  self-supporting,  paying  its  way  out 
of  its  revenues.  Nevertheless,  the  taxes  with  which  the 
Turks  used  to  squeeze  and  harness  the  people  have  been 
reduced  and  some  of  them  have  been  abolished.  At 
the  same  time,  where  the  Turk  and  his  tax-gatherers,  as 
the  Arabs  say,  "never  gave  us  so  much  as  a  drink  of  cold 
water,"  the  new  rulers  are  providing  much-needed  im- 
provements with  the  public  funds. 

Before  the  British  came  the  Arabs  had  a  saying  that 
the  Turk  would  rule  the  Holy  Land  until  the  Nile  flowed 
into  Palestine.  This  ancient  prophecy  has  been  almost 
literally  fulfilled,  for  when  the  British  built  the  military 
railroad  from  Egypt  into  Palestine  they  laid  all  the  way 
beside  it  a  pipe-line  carrying  water  pumped  from  the  Nile. 
A  great  tank  in  the  hills  on  the  Hebron  road,  built  by 
Pontius  Pilate,  has  been  restored,  and  now  holds  five 
million  gallons  of  water,  which  is  piped  into  Jerusalem. 
The  streets  have  been  cleaned,  the  beginnings  of  a  sewerage 
system  put  in,  and  the  natives  have  started  to  learn  the 
use  of  a  covered  garbage  can.  Even  the  mosquitoes, 
descendants  of  those  who  bit  the  Crusaders,  have  been 
driven  out  and  have  gone  to  the  other  side  of  Jordan  to 
smite  the  Bedouins.  Plans  for  the  further  extension  of 
the  city  beyond  the  walls  have  been  prepared,  and  its 
growth  will  be  directed  accordingly. 

281 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

A  native  police  force  has  been  recruited  to  keep  order 

in  the  place  of  the  troops  which  have  been  gradually 
reduced  in  number.  All  the  holy  places  are  still  carefully 
protected.  The  British  were  able  to  keep  the  Mosque 
of  Omar  under  Moslem  guard  by  using  soldiers  from  their 
own  Indian  troops  made  up  of  followers  of  the  Prophet. 

The  men  of  a  New  Zealand  regiment  who  were  Masons 
held  a  meeting  in  the  secret  cavern  under  the  Holy  Rock 
in  the  Mosque  said  to  be  the  place  where  King  Solomon 
founded  their  order.  There  were  thirty-two  Masons 
from  twenty-seven  different  lodges,  who  took  part  in 
this  meeting,  while  an  old  sheik  acted  as  doorkeeper. 

The  differences  in  religion  keep  bobbing  up  in  Jeru- 
salem, giving  the  British  and  the  advisory  council  some 
ticklish  questions  to  deal  with.  For  example,  when  the 
military  bands  started  to  give  concerts  in  a  public  square 
in  the  outer  city,  they  played  three  afternoons  a  week  — 
Thursday,  Saturday,  and  Sunday.  The  Grand  Mufti, 
head  of  the  Jerusalem  Moslems,  solemnly  protested, 
saying  the  band  played  Saturday  for  the  Jewish  Sab- 
bath and  on  Sunday  for  the  Christians,  but  was  slighting 
the  Mohammedans,  who  observed  Friday.  So  now  the 
bands  play  four  days  a  week. 

Another  thing  the  British  did  gratified  the  Christians. 
Under  Turkish  rule  the  Church  of  the  Nativity  at  Beth- 
lehem was  disfigured  by  a  wall  separating  the  Greek  choir 
and  chancel  from  the  nave  and  basilica,  which  is  common 
to  Orthodox  and  Catholic  alike.  This  wall  they  tore  down, 
so  that  now  the  whole  church  is  open  to  view. 

As  a  result  of  the  war,  and  the  cruelties  of  the  Turks, 
the  population  of  Jerusalem  shrank  from  eighty  thousand 
to  sixty  thousand,  while  Jaffa  was  almost  depopulated. 

282 


PALESTINE  AND  SYRIA  UNDER  NEW  RULERS 

With  British  control,  however,  the  people  flocked  back 
again,  and  a  rapid  increase  is  expected  all  through  the 
Holy  Land.  The  country  itself  suffered  almost  as  much 
as  the  people  from  the  outrages  of  both  the  Turks  and  the 
Germans.  Crops  were  seized  to  feed  the  soldiers,  while 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  olive  and  other  trees  were  cut 
down  to  make  fuel  for  locomotives.  The  Germans 
blasted  out  the  trees  with  dynamite,  destroying  the  roots 
so  that  no  sprouts  could  spring  up.  Whole  sections  of 
Palestine  were  stripped  bare,  and  at  the  same  time  cat- 
tle and  sheep  were  taken  away  and  killed.  In  some  places 
the  people  burned  nearly  everything  they  had  to  keep 
the  Turks  from  getting  their  possessions. 

The  British  are  working  on  a  vast  scheme  of  refores- 
tation in  connection  with  their  irrigation  plans.  They 
are  encouraging  a  project  for  building  a  dam  in  the  River 
Jordan,  above  Tiberias  and  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  which  will 
furnish  power  for  irrigation  pumps  and  light  and  energy 
for  all  Palestine.  Great  nurseries  have  been  established 
at  Gaza,  where  Samson  threw  down  the  temple  of  the 
Philistines.  In  one  operation,  more  than  one  hundred 
thousand  timber  trees  and  ninety  thousand  fruit  trees 
were  set  out. 

The  new  rulers  of  the  Holy  Land  hope  to  restore  agri- 
culture, which  fell  into  decay  under  the  Turks,  chiefly  on 
account  of  the  excessive  taxes  on  the  farmers.  Local 
meetings  of  natives  have  been  held  throughout  the 
country,  to  find  out  what  the  farmers  needed  most,  and 
to  put  them  in  touch  with  sources  of  supply.  There  was 
found  to  be  a  great  shortage  of  farm  implements  and 
machines,  such  as  mowers,  horse  rakes,  and  other  equip- 
ment.    To  encourage  the  natives,  the  sum  of  two  million 

283 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

five  hundred  thousand  dollars  was  set  aside  to  be  loaned 
by  the  Anglo-Egyptian  Bank  of  Palestine  for  improve- 
ments on  their  lands.  Within  three  years  after  the  war 
Palestine  agriculture  produced  more  than  two  million 
bushels  of  wheat,  one  million  bushels  of  barley,  one  and 
one  quarter  million  bushels  of  millet,  six  thousand  tons 
of  grapes,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  gallons  of 
olive  oil.  The  number  of  sheep  and  goats  was  estimated 
at  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  each.  Figs  are 
grown  in  upper  Galilee,  but  not  so  many  as  will  be  the 
case  when  shipping  facilities  are  provided.  For  the 
second  year  under  British  control,  the  import  trade  of 
Palestine  amounted  to  not  quite  twenty  million  dollars, 
most  of  which  was  with  Great  Britain  and  Egypt.  The 
people  import  foodstuffs  such  as  rice  and  sugar,  and  buy 
a  great  quantity  of  cotton  goods. 

Some  think  that  Palestine  may  become  a  second 
Switzerland  and  grow  rich  on  the  visitors  to  the  country. 
For  many  years  both  pilgrims  and  tourists  have  been 
going  to  the  Holy  Land  by  the  thousands,  but  little  has 
ever  been  done  for  either  their  comfort  or  their  conve- 
nience. With  the  country  under  good  management  by 
the  British,  and  modern  conditions  provided,  more  people 
will  want  to  make  the  trip.  Many  thousands  of  Pal- 
estinians could  undoubtedly  be  employed  at  a  profit  in 
serving  the  visitors  and  selling  them  goods. 

Communications  in  Palestine  have  been  greatly  im- 
proved and  extended.  Besides  the  military  railway  from 
Egypt,  General  Allenby  and  the  British  built  more  than 
two  hundred  miles  of  highways,  and  these  are  being  added 
to  all  the  time.  There  are  now  four  hundred  and  eighty 
miles  of  railroad  track  and  five  hundred  and  twenty-three 

284 


PALESTINE  AND  SYRIA  UNDER  NEW  RULERS 

miles  of  public  highways.  The  cars  on  the  line  from 
Egypt  to  the  Holy  Land  are  comfortable,  and  sleeping 
and  eating  accommodations  are  provided.  One  may  ride 
from  Cairo  to  Ludd,  and  there  connect  with  the  Jaffa- 
Jerusalem  line,  or  continue  on  to  Haifa,  whence  the  jour- 
ney may  be  continued  for  twelve  hours  over  the  French 
railroad  to  Damascus.  Every  two  weeks  aeroplanes 
carry  mail  from  Egypt  and  Palestine  across  the  desert 
into  Mesopotamia,  where  the  British  are  developing  the 
large  interests  they  gained  there  as  a  result  of  the  war. 
The  Zionists  have  revived  an  old  plan  for  a  two-hundred- 
and-fifty-mile  ship  canal  through  Palestine  as  a  supple- 
ment to  the  Suez  Canal,  but  it  does  not  seem  likely  that 
this  scheme  will  be  worked  out  with  the  British  control- 
ling Palestine  and  the  Suez  Canal. 

The  British  plan  to  extend  into  Mesopotamia  the 
railroad  system  already  connecting  Palestine  and  Egypt, 
so  as  to  link  up  the  countries  of  three  rivers,  the  Nile, 
the  Jordan,  and  the  Euphrates.  This  will  supplement 
the  Berlin-to-Bagdad  line  which  the  Germans  thought 
would  give  them  control  over  a  new  eastern  empire. 
Another  project  that  is  now  much  talked  of  is  to  dig  a 
tunnel  thirty-seven  miles  long  under  the  hills  to  carry 
water  from  the  streams  along  the  coast  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean into  the  Jordan.  The  fact  that  the  Jordan  is  far 
below  sea  level  makes  this  physically  possible,  even  if 
not  economically  practicable.  Extensive  improvements 
are  planned  for  Haifa,  which  as  a  port  and  the  terminus 
of  the  railroads  to  Damascus  and  Jerusalem  will  be  an 
important  place  in  the  future.  The  British  also  expect 
to  empty  into  ships  at  Haifa  the  oil  they  plan  to  pipe 
across  the  desert  from  Mesopotamia.     Haifa  used  to  be 

285 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  SYRIA 

great  in  ancient  days,  when  it  was  the  chief  landing  place 
of  the  Crusaders  and  the  transfer  point  in  the  early 
trade  between  Venice  and  the  Far  East.  It  is  now  pre- 
dicted that  its  population  of  twenty  thousand  will  in- 
crease to  one  hundred  thousand  within  ten  years. 

The  French  have  a  mandate  for  Syria,  as  the  British 
have  for  Palestine,  and  the  boundaries  of  both  regions 
have  been  redrawn.  Damascus  is  included  in  the  ter- 
ritory under  French  control.  Syria  is  nominally  inde- 
pendent, and  the  natives  have  not  been  altogether  satis- 
fied with  the  way  the  French  have  governed  their  country 
since  the  Sultan's  power  was  overthrown. 

Very  little  has  been  left  of  the  Turkish  possessions,  as 
Armenia  has  been  declared  independent,  and  the  Greeks 
given  a  footing  in  Smyrna  and  the  surrounding  district. 
Once  these  regions  become  adjusted  to  the  new  con- 
ditions following  the  war,  it  is  believed  they  will  enter 
upon  a  new  era  of  prosperity  and  rapid  development  of 
their  many  rich  resources. 


THE   END 


286 


SEEING  THE  WORLD 

WITH 

Frank  G.  Carpenter 

Choosing  a  travelling  companion  is  one  of  life's  most  try- 
ing moments.  The  man  with  whom  we  feel  we  can  be 
quite  happy  throughout  a  journey — whose  tastes,  interests, 
and  viewpoint  are  like  our  own — is  often  hard  to  find. 

Millions  of  Americans  have  found  Frank  G.  Carpenter 
their  ideal  fellow  traveller.  Reading  Carpenter  has  meant 
for  them  seeing  the  world,  and  with  him  they  have  jour- 
neyed to  all  parts  of  the  globe.  He  never  bores,  preaches, 
or  propagandizes,  but  tells  his  readers  what  they  want 
to  know,  shows  them  what  they  want  to  see,  and  makes 
them  feel  that  they  are  there. 

In  order  to  extend  this  opportunity  of  "Seeing  the  World 
with  Carpenter,"  Doubleday,  Page  &  Company  have  ar- 
ranged to  publish  CARPENTER'S  WORLD  TRAVELS, 
the  story  of  his  three  hundred  thousand  miles  of  journeys 
over  the  globe,  of  which  this  book,  "The  Holy  Land  and 
Syria"  is  the  first  volume.  Succeeding  volumes  to  be 
published  immediately,  include: 

From   Tangier  to   Tripoli, 
Morocco,    Algeria,   Tunis, 
Tripoli,  and  the  Sahara. 

Alaska, 

Our  Northern  Wonderland 
The  End  of  the  Hemisphere, 

Chile  and  Argentina. 
287 


SEEING  THE  WORLD 

From  Cairo  to   Kisumu. 
Egypt,    the  Anglo-Egyptian   Sudan,  and 
British  East  Africa, 
and  twenty  other  volumes,  covering  the  world. 

These  books  are  familiar  talks  about  the  countries  and 
peoples  of  the  earth,  with  the  author  on  the  spot  and  the 
reader  in  his  home.  Carpenter  makes  his  readers  see 
what  he  sees,  and  they  feel  they  are  on  the  spot  with  him. 

This  is  the  only  work  of  its  kind.  No  other  single 
author  has  visited  all  the  countries  of  the  world  and  writ- 
ten on  the  spot,  in  plain  and  simple  language,  the  story  of 
what  he  has  found.  CARPENTER'S  WORLD  TRAV- 
ELS are  not  the  casual  record  of  incidents  of  the  journey, 
but  the  painstaking  study  of  a  trained  observer,  devoting 
his  life  to  the  task  of  world-wide  reporting.  Each  book 
is  complete  in  itself;  together  they  form  the  most  vivid, 
interesting,  and  understandable  picture  of  our  modern 
world  yet  published.  They  are  the  fruit  of  more  than 
thirty  years  of  unparalleled  success  in  writing  for  the 
American  people  through  the  medium  of  their  greatest 
newspapers.  They  are  a  fitting  climax  to  Mr.  Carpenter's 
distinguished  services  to  the  teaching  of  geography  in  our 
public  schools,  which  have  used  some  four  million  copies 
of  the  Carpenter  Geographical  Readers. 

In  the  present  state  of  the  world,  a  knowledge  of  its 
countries  and  peoples  is  essential  to  an  understanding  of 
what  is  going  on,  of  how  all  that  is  happening  aflFects  us,  and 
why.  Carpenter  takes  his  readers  to  the  lands  of  the  news, 
and  makes  more  real  the  daily  flashes  by  cable  and  radio. 

A  word  to  your  bookseller,  or  a  line  to  the  publishers,  will 
enable  you  to  secure  each  volume  of  Carpenter's  World 
Travels  as  it  appears. 

288 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

A  N  ENORMOUSnumberof  books  on  the  Holy  Land 
/\  have  been  written,  some  few  of  which  have  be- 
/  %  come  standard  works,  in  spite  of  having  been 
-*•  ^  written  a  generation  ago.  Among  these  the  most 
familiar,  perhaps,  are  Dean  Stanley's  "Sinai  and  Pales- 
tine," in  many  editions,  and  G.  A.  Smith's  "Historical 
Geography  of  the  Holy  Land,"  thirteenth  edition,  London, 
1907,  and  the  same  author's  "Atlas  of  the  Historical  Ge- 
ography of  the  Holy  Land,"  London,  191 5.  The  following 
brief  list  is  a  selection  from  the  most  recent  publications: 

Baedeker.     "Syria  and  Palestine"  Guidebook.     London,  1912. 

Bell,  Gertrude.     "Syria."     London,  1919. 

Bentwich,  Norman.  "Palestine  and  the  Jews,  Past,  Present,  and 
Future."     London,  1919. 

Copping,  Arthur  E.    "A  Journalist  in  the  Holy  Land."  London,  191 1 . 

Gordon,  Ben  L,  "New  Judea:  Jewish  Life  in  Modern  Palestine." 
Philadelphia,  19 19. 

Grant,  Elihu.     "Peasantry  of  Palestine."    New  York,  1907. 

Great  Britain.  "Handbook  of  Syria"  (including  Palestine)  Pre- 
pared by  Naval  Intelligence  Division,  British  Admiralty.  Lon- 
don, 1 92 1, 

"Syria  and  Palestine,"  Historical  section  British  Foreign  Office — 
No.  60.     London,  1921. 

Hichens,  Robert.  "The  Holy  Land"  illus.  by  Jules  Guerin.  New 
York,  1 9 10. 

Hilprecht,  H.  V.  "Explorations  in  Bible  Lands  during  the  19th 
Century."     Philadelphia,  1903. 

Huntington,  Ellsworth.  "Palestine  and  Its  Transformation." 
Boston,  191 1. 

289 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Hyamson,  a.  M.     "Palestine:  the  Rebirth  of  an  Ancient  People." 

London,  19 17. 
Jastrow,  Morris.     "Zionism  and  the  Future  of  Palestine."     New 

York,  1919. 
Lees,  G.  Robinson.     "Village  Life  in  Palestine."     London,  1905. 
Lock,  H.  O.     "The  Conquest  of  Palestine."     London,  1920. 
MuDRUM,  Nadra.     "La  Syrie  de  Demain."     Paris,  1916. 
Maxwell,  Donald.     "A  Painter  in  Palestine."     London,  1921. 
PiRiE-GoRDON,  H.     "Guidebook  to  Northern  Palestine  and  Southern 

Syria."    Jerusalem,  1920. 

"Guide  Book  to  Central  Syria."    Jerusalem,  1920. 
RuppiN,    A.     "Syrien    als    Wirthschaftsgebiet"    (Also    in    English). 

Berlin,  1917. 
"The  Jews  of  To-day."    New  York,  1913. 
Samne,  G.     "La  Syrie."     Paris,  192 1. 

Sampter,  Jessie,  Editor.     "A  Guide  to  Zionism."    New  York,  1920. 
Sidebotham,  H.     "England  and  Palestine."     London,  1919. 
SoKOLOw,  N.     "History  of  Zionism."     London  and  New  York,  1919. 
SzoLD,   Henrietta.     "Recent   Progress  in   Palestine."    New  York, 

1920. 
Wilbushewitz,   N.     "The   Industrial    Development  of  Palestine." 

London,  1920 


290 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abraham,  sacrificial  rock  of,  64. 
Agriculture,  in  the  Land  of  Goshen,  6; 

in  Palestine,  159. 
Allenby,  General,  the  successful  Cru- 
sader, I. 
Alouf,    Dr.    Michel,   archaeologist     at 

Baalbek,  239. 
American     cemetery     at     Jerusalem 

purchased  by  trickery  by  Germans 

who  remove  bodies,  44,  250. 
American  colonies  in  the  Holy  Land, 

172. 
American  education  in  the  Near  East, 

252. 
American  Medical  Unit  in  Palestine, 

202. 
American  store  in  Jerusalem,  174. 
American  trade,  opportunities  for,  in 

Syria,  267. 
Ananias,    house    of,    at     Damascus, 

212. 
Andromeda,  the  rocks  of,  18. 
Anglo-Israelite  Colonization   Society, 

work  of,  170,  176. 
Ararat,  Mount,  in  Armenia,  274. 
Armenia,  the  sufferings  of,  271. 
Armenian  Patriarch  at  Jerusalem,  273. 
Armenian  women,  costumes  of,  276; 

marriage  customs,  277. 
Armenians,  as  sharp  traders,  271. 
Ascension,  Chapel  of  the,  127. 
Asyut,  American  college  at,  252. 
Ayasoluk,  railway  station  for  Ephe- 

sus,  263,  266. 

Baal,  worship  of,  235. 

Baalbek,  ruins  of  the  ancient  city,  232. 

Babel,  Tower  of,  at  Baalbek,  234. 

Bacchus,  temple  of,  at  Baalbek,  236. 

Banias,  at  source  of  the  Jordan,  130. 

Baptisms  in  the  Jordan,  55. 

Bashan,  compared  with  Bible  times, 

32. 
Bazaars  of  Jerusalem,  in. 
Beeroth,  155. 
Bees  and  honey  of  Palestine,  164. 


Beirut,    American    college    at,    256; 

college  has  largest  publishing  house 

in  the  Orient,  259. 
Beitin,  the  ancient  Bethel,  155. 
Berlin-to-Bagdad  scheme,  Germany's, 

249. 
Bethany,  of  to-day,  123. 
Bethel,  now  called  Beitin,  155. 
Bethlehem,  visits  to,  138. 
Birthplace  of  Christ,  the,  144. 
Bliss,  Dr.  Howard  S.,  difficulties  with 

the  literary  censorship,  255;  handles 

a  strike  of  Moslem  students,  257. 
Boaz,  Field  of,  140,  141. 
Bomb   for  the   Church   of  the   Holy 

Sepulchre,  107. 
Bread  bakers  of  Jerusalem,  1 15. 
Brickmaking  at  Bubastis,  9. 
Bridge  of  Jacob's  Daughters,  131. 
British  government  of  Palestine  and 

Syria,  280. 
British  mandate  over  Palestine,  197. 
Bubastis,  city  of  cat  worship,  9. 

Caiaphas,  the  house  of,  44. 

Cain  and  Abel,  Moslem  tradition  of, 
246. 

Calvary,  the  site  as  located  by  General 
Gordon,  46. 

Camels  and  their  use,  164. 

Cana,  village  of,  195. 

Candies  of  Damascus,  218. 

Capernaum,  excavations  at,  192. 

Carmelite  nunnery  on  Mount  of 
Olives,  126. 

Cat  worship,  at  Bubastis,  9. 

Catacombs  of  Jerusalem,  60. 

Cave  dwellers  in  Jerusalem,  39. 

Cedars  of  Lebanon,  240. 

Cemeteries,  weddings  in,  83. 

Censorship  of  reading  matter  by  Turk- 
ish officials,  255. 

Chapel  of  the  Ascension,  127. 

Chapel  of  the  Manger,  146. 

Children  of  the  Holy  Land,  182 

Christ,  Tomb  of,  90. 


293 


INDEX 


Christians  barred   from   railroads  to 

Mohammedan  holy  cities,  242. 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  48,  88. 
Church  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the,  126. 
Church  of  the  Nativity,  144. 
Costumes  of  Damascus  women,  224. 
Crucifixion,  relics  of  the,  91. 

Damascus,  the  world's  oldest  city, 
204;  the  heart  of  the  Mohammedan 
world,  209;  massacres  of  Christians 
at,  in  modern  times,  209,  217; 
bazaars  of,  214;  foreign  trade,  220; 
manufacture  of  jewellery,  221. 

Damascus- Beirut  railway,  travels  on, 
246. 

David,  Tower  of,  36. 

David-Goliath  battlefield,  25. 

Day  of  Judgment,  the  Mohammedan 
belief,  46. 

Dead  Sea,  the,  129,  131,  135. 

Dervishes,  fanaticism  of  the,  278. 

Diana,  temple  of,  at  Ephesus,  263. 

Divorce,  in  Damascus,  225. 

Donkeys,  their  use  in  the  Holy  Land, 
164. 

Dorcas,  the  tomb  of,  21. 

Easter  Week  in  Jerusalem,  48,  55,  84. 

Ebal,  Mount,  137. 

Eddy,  Dr.  Mary,  work  of,  as  medical 

missionary,  260. 
Education,    American,    in    the    Near 

East,  252. 
Elijah,  the  cave  of,  122. 
Elisha,  the  fountain  of,  122. 
Ephesus,  excavations  at,  262. 
Eucalyptus,  introduction  of  the,  170. 
Evil  Eye,  belief  in  the,  78. 
Excavations,    at    Baalbek,    German, 

234;  at  Ephesus,  262;  at  Jericho, 

119. 

Farming  in  Palestine,  159. 

Fat-tailed  sheep,  141. 

Fatima,  tomb  of,  at  Damascus,  210. 

Field  of  Boaz,  140,  141. 

Field  of  Peas,  the,  142. 

Field  of  the  Shepherds,  the,  142. 

Figs,  production  of,  in  Syria,  269. 

Fishermen  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  189. 

Flight  into  Egypt,  the,  10. 

Flowers  of  Palestine,  the,  163. 

Foot  washing,  the  ceremony  of,  95. 


Franz   Josef,   costly   gifts  of,   to   the 

Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  50. 
French-Jewish  Society,  work  of,  171. 
Fuel,  scarcity  of,  33. 

Gabriel's  Spring,  Nazareth,  180. 
Gadarenes,  land  of  the,  188. 
Galilee,  Sea  of,  131,  187. 
Garden  of  Gethsemane,  the,  127. 
German  church  at  Jerusalem,  43,  249, 

250. 
German  colonies  in  Palestine,  248. 
German  excavations  at  Baalbek,  234. 
German  hospice  at  Jerusalem,  249. 
Germany's  methods  in  the  Near  East, 

249. 
Gerizim,  Mount,  Samaritan  Passover 

sacrifice  on,  1 30. 
Gethsemane,  Garden  of,  46,  127. 
Gezer,  excavations  at,  27. 
Gifts  to  the  churches,  108. 
Gihon,  Pool  of,  139. 
Gilead,  compared  with    Bible  times, 

32- 

Gomorrah  and  Sodom,  sites  of,  137. 

Good  Samaritan  Inn,  the,  125. 

Gordon,  General,  site  of  Calvary  lo- 
cated by,  46;  believed  Place  of  the 
Skull  the  scene  of  the  Crucifixion, 
134. 

Goshen,  in  Joseph's  time  and  now,  4; 
a  land  of  gardens,  6. 

Graveyard  marriages,  superstition  re- 
garding, 82. 

Great  Mosque,  the,  at  Damascus,  207. 

Greek  Church,  a  great  factor  in  the 
the  religious  life  of  the  Holy  Land, 
53;  strength  of,  101,  109. 

Hadassah  Medical  Organization,  work 
of,  in  Palestine,  202. 

Hamlin,  Rev.  Cyrus,  organizer  of 
Robert  College,  Constantinople, 
254. 

Hardegg,  American  hotel  keeper  at 
Jaffa,  19. 

Hebrew  art,  revival  of,  201. 

Herzl,  Dr.  Theodore,  founder  of  Zion- 
ist movement,  198. 

Hezekiah,  Pool  of,  35,  36. 

Holy  Family,  route  of,  into  Egypt,  10. 

Holy  fire,  "miracle"  of  the,  98. 

Holy  Land,  returned  to  Christian  and 
Jew,  I. 


294 


INDEX 


Holy  Sepulchre,  Church  of  the,  48,  88. 
Holy  Week,  in  Jerusalem,  48,  55,  84. 
Huleh,  Lake,  131. 

Irrigation,  in  Mesopotamia,  British 
plans  for,  248;  in  the  Land  of 
Goshen,  6. 

Jacob's  Daughters,  Bridge  of,  131. 

Jacob's  We!!,  152. 

Jaffa,  the  city  of  Jonah,  14;  one  of  the 
world's  worst  harbours,  16;  lumber 
for  Solomon's  Temple  landed  at, 
17,  66,  241. 

Jaffa-Jerusalem  railroad,  the,  26. 

Jaffa  to  Jerusalem,  the  journey  from, 
32. 

Jehoshaphat,  Valley  of,  44. 

Jeremiah,  Lamentations  of,  where 
written,  46;  chanting  of,  76. 

Jericho,  excavations  at,  119;  arriving 
at,  123. 

Jerusalem,  growth  of  the  city,  37;  ma- 
terials used  in  house  construction 
in,  38;  the  mecca  of  millions,  40; 
the  building  of  the  walls,  45;  pil- 
grimage city  of  the  world,  48;  Jews 
barred  from,  68;  mean  temperature 
of,  130;  increase  in  population  under 
the  British,  282. 

Jesus's  Spring,  in  Nazareth,  180. 

Jewellery,  manufacture  of,  in  Damas- 
cus, 221. 

Jewels  bestowed  by  pilgrims  to  Jeru- 
salem, 50. 

Jewish  Colonies,  development  of,  169. 

Jews,  coming  into  their  own,  68; 
classes  of,  in  Palestine,  69;  dress 
and  customs  of,  71;  superstitions 
of,  78. 

Jonah,  story  of,  16. 

Jonah's  city,  Jaffa,  14. 

Jordan  River,  long  and  crooked,  30; 
the  blessing  of  the  water,  55;  bap- 
tisms in,  56;  travels  along  the,  129; 
source  of,  130. 

Jordan  Valley,  the,  129;  mean  tem- 
perature of,  130. 

Judas's  betrayal  of  Christ,  spot  of,  128. 

Judea,  via  the  railway,  23. 

Juneau,  tuberculosis  hospital  at,  260. 

Kaiserin  Augusta,  hospice  on  Mount 

of  Olives  in  honour  of,  249. 
Kedron,  gardens  of,  44. 


Kedron,  Valley  of,  154. 
Kersting,  Father,  excavations  in  Naza- 
reth, 180. 

Lake  Huleh,  131. 

Lamentations    of    Jeremiah,     where 

written,  46;  chanting  of  the,  76. 
Lazarus,  tomb  of,  123. 
Law  of  Moses,  Samaritan  parchment 

of  the,  1 50. 
Lebanon,  cedars  of,  240. 
Lebanon  Mountains,  scantily  forested, 

240. 
Livestock  in  the  Land  of  Goshen,  6. 
Lord's  Prayer,  the  Church  of  the,  125. 
Lot's  wife,  the  pillar  of  salt,  137. 
Louse  Market,  Damascus,  217. 

Machinery,  American,  needed  in 
Syria,  267. 

Magi,  Well  of  the,  141. 

Mandeville,  Sir  John,  first  report  of 
the  cotton  plant,  5. 

Manger,  Chapel  of  the,  146. 

Markets  of  Jerusalem,  the,  117. 

Marriage  and  divorce  customs  of  the 
Holy  Land,  226. 

Marriage  at  early  age  in  Palestine, 
184. 

Marriage  customs  in  Armenia,  277. 

Mary  and  Martha,  house  of,  at 
Bethany,  124. 

Mary's  Well,  Nazareth,  180. 

Masons,  meeting  of,  in  the  Mosque  of 
Omar,  282. 

Massacres  of  Christians  in  Damascus 
in  modern  times,  209,  217. 

Mecca,  railroad  to,  242;  Moslem  pil- 
grimages to,  209;  pilgrimages  to, 
a  means  of  distribution  of  civilized 
ideas,  258. 

Medical  missionaries  in  the  Orient, 
259. 

Mesopotamia,  British  plans  for  irriga- 
tion in,  248;  agricultural  possibil- 
ities of,  268. 

"Miracle"  of  the  holy  fire,  the,  98. 

Mizpah,  where  Saul  was  anointed 
king,  25,  154. 

Moab,  compared  with  Bible  times,  32. 

Modern  innovations  in  the  Holy 
Land,  \. 

Money  changers,  customs  of  the,  87, 
III. 

Montefiore  colonies  at  Jerusalem,  171. 


295 


INDEX 


Moriah,  Mount,  57. 

Moses,  where  found,  in  the  Nile  bul- 
rushes, 1 1. 

Moses'  Tabernacle,  site  of,  65. 

Mosque  of  Omar,  water  supply  for, 
34;  on  site  of  Solomon's  Temple,  36, 
48;  history  of,  62;  kept  under  Mos- 
lem guard  by  the  British,  282. 

Mosques  and  praying  carriages  on 
Mecca  railway,  243. 

Mount  Ebal,  137. 

Mount  Moriah,  57. 

Mount  Nebo,  129,  134. 

Mount  of  Olives,  30,  125. 

Mount  Scopus,  154. 

Naam,  the  Syrian,  house  of,  at  Da- 
mascus, 212. 

Nablus,  one  of  the  oldest  towns  of 
history,  157. 

Nativity,  Church  of  the,  144. 

Nazareth,  early  home  of  the  Saviour, 
177. 

Nebo,  Mount,  129,  134. 

Noah,  tomb  of,  247. 

Obelisks,  American  tourists  at  the,  12. 

Olive  oil,  made  in  primitive  manner, 
1 16. 

Olives,  production  of,  in  Syria,  269. 

Omar,  Mosque  of,  water  supply  for, 
34;  on  site  of  Solomon's  Temple,  36, 
48;  its  history,  62;  kept  under  Mos- 
lem guard  by  the  British,  282. 

Oman,  the  Jebusite,  threshing-floor  of, 
59,  64. 

Palestine,  returned  to  Christian  and 
Jew,  i;  first  view  of  its  shores,  15; 
comparative  size,  30;  character  of 
the  country,  31;  farming  in,  159; 
under  the  British,  280. 

Palestine  Exploration  Fund  excava- 
tions at  Gezer,  27. 

Palm  Sunday  in  Jerusalem,  92. 

Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  a  talk  with 
the,  10 1. 

Peas,  the  Field  of,  142. 

Pilgrimages  to  the  Holy  City,  14,  40, 
48,  49.  53- 

Pithom,  treasure  city  of  Pharaoh,  8. 

Place  of  the  Skull,  the,  46,  154. 

Pontius  Pilate,  house  of,  93. 

Pool  of  Gihon,  139. 

Pool  of  Hezekiah,  35,  36. 


Pool  of  Siloam,  35,  54. 
Pools  of  Solomon,  now  a  poor  water 
supply,  34. 

Quarrels  between  the  sects,  106. 

Rachel,  Tomb  of,  142. 

Railroads  in  the  Holy  Land,  242. 

Rainfall,  scanty  proportion  of,  34. 

Rameses,  treasure  city  of  Pharaoh,  8. 

Religions,  strength  of  the  different, 
1 10. 

Robert  College,  Constantinople,  in- 
fluence of,  253. 

Roses,  Valley  of,  140. 

Rothschild,  Baron  Edward,  founds 
Jewish  colonies  in  Palestine,  171, 
174,  176. 

Ruins,  the  world's  mighty,  233. 

Russian  hospice,  the,  53. 

Russians,  chief  pilgrims  to  the  Holy 
Land,  53. 

Saladin,  tomb  of,  at  Damascus,  211. 

Samaritans,  among  the,  149. 

Samson's  fight  with  the  Philistines, 
place  of,  26. 

Samuel,  Tomb  of,  154. 

St.  Helena,  locates  place  of  the  Cruci- 
fixion, 51. 

St.  Stephen,  place  of  the  stoning  of, 

43- 
St.    Paul,   tracing  footsteps  of,   211; 

place   of   his   escape   over  wall   of 

Damascus,  213. 
St.  Peter  and  his  dream,  20. 
Schools  of  Nazareth,  the,  184. 
Scopus,  Mount,  154. 
Sea  of  Galilee,  131,  187. 
Seilum,  the  ancient  Shiloh,  155. 
Sepulchre  of  Christ,  the,  91. 
Seth,  tomb  of,  247. 
Shechem,  one  of  the  oldest  towns  of 

history,  i  57. 
Sheep,  the  fat-tailed  variety,  141,  160. 
Shepherds,  Field  of  the,  142. 
Shiloh,  now  called  Seilum,  155. 
Shops  of  Jerusalem,  smallness  of  the, 

113. 
Silk  production  in  Syria,  268. 
Siloam,  Pool  of,  35,  44. 
Simon  the  Tanner,  house  of,  20. 
Skull,  Place  of  the,  154. 
Smyrna,  largest  city  in  Asia  Minor, 

267. 


296 


INDEX 


Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  sites  of,  137. 

Solomon,  Pools  of,  now  a  poor  water 
supply,  34. 

Solomon's  Temple,  lumber  for,  landed 
at  Jaffa,  17,  66,  241;  Mosque  of 
Omar  on  site  of,  36,  48;  site  of,  45; 
holiest  spot  on  the  globe,  57;  di- 
mensions of,  67. 

Souvenirs,  the  purchase  of,  222. 

Spaffordites,  colony  of  the,  in  Pales- 
tine, 173. 

Sphinx,  legend  of  the  Holy  Family  at 
the,  1 1. 

Stone  of  Unction,  the,  49,  89. 

Storekeepers  of  Jerusalem,  1 1 1. 

Street  called  Straight,  the,  at  Damas- 
cus, 212;  shopping  in,  214. 

Suk  Wadi  Baroda,  on  Damascus- 
Beirut  railway,  246. 

Superstitions  of  the  Jews,  78. 

Syria  under  the  British,  280. 

Tabernacle  of  Moses,  site  of,  65. 

Taxes  and  their  collection  in  Pales- 
tine, 167. 

Temples  of  Baalbek,  233. 

Tiberias  on  Sea  of  Galilee,  193. 

Tomb  of  Christ,  the,  90;  of  Dorcas,  2 1 ; 
Fatima,  210;  of  Lazarus,  123;  of 
Noah,  247;  of  Rachel,  142;  of  Sala- 
din,  211;  of  Samuel,  154,  of  Seth, 
247. 

Tower  of  Babel,  at  Baalbek,  234. 

Tower  of  David,  the,  36. 

Tuberculosis  among  the  Bedouin 
tribes,  260. 


Unction,  Stone  of,  49,  89. 

United  Presbyterian  Church,  educa- 
tional institutions  of,  in  Nile  Valley, 
252. 

Valley  of  Roses,  140. 
Veiled  women  of  Damascus,  the,  223. 
Virgin  Mary,  jewel-covered  image  of, 
at  Jerusalem,  50. 

Washing  the  feet,  ceremony  of,  95. 

Watch  towers  of  Jerusalem,  the,  43. 

Water  supply,  by  scanty  wells  and 
cisterns,  34. 

Weddings,  in  cemeteries,  82. 

Well  of  the  Magi,  141. 

Wilhelm  II,  breach  in  wall  of  Jerusa- 
lem in  honour  of,  139;  places  golden 
wreath  on  tomb  of  Saladin,  21 1 ;  his 
trip  through  the  Holy  Land,  233, 
250. 

Women,  veiled,  of  Damascus,  223. 

Women's  rights  in  the  Holy  Land,  230. 

Zagazig,  a  famous  cotton  port,  4. 
Zammarin,  Jewish  colony  at,  174. 
Zangwill,  Israel,  talk  with  on  Zionist 

movement,  198. 
Zion,  Mount,  view  from,  37;  on  the 

slope  of,  43. 
Zionist  colonies  in  Palestine,  170. 
Zionist  movement,  the,  196. 
Zimpel,  originator  of  Jaffa-Jerusalem 

railroad  idea,  26. 
Zorah,  birthplace  of  Samson,  27. 


297 


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